On the Edge
by Twilight-Flame337
Summary: Previously gamg337. Sara has a secret. When Grissom finds out, her life is in danger because of an ancient prophecy that some very dangerous people don't want to see fufilled. Full Summary inside.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I got this idea while baking a cake that didn't exactly work out the way I wanted it to. Oh well, at least I got a story out of it. I hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I don't own CSI, CBS or any related character. Jordan Williams is mine.

Summary: Sara has a secret. When Grissom finds out, her very life is on the line because of an ancient prophecy that a dangerous group of people doesn't want to see fulfilled. She and the team travel to another world, where she finds that there is more to her destiny than she ever thought. 

Jordan Williams is a character from my fic Coming Back. Jordan's description is on my profile. 

"Alright everyone." Gil Grissom set down the assignment slips on the breakroom table. 'Busy night tonight." 

"What do we have?" Catherine Willows leaned forward and grabbed the top slip. "Ooh, a double. I call it."

"Thanks Cath." Warrick Brown said sarcastically "I had a decomp last week. I was hoping for something good."

"Oh, stop you whining. You can be my partner." Catherine smiled at him.

"What else?" Greg Sanders asked from the coffee pot.

"B&E, suspicious circs and a trick roll."

"Full night." Nick Stokes commented 

"Quite. Greg, you get the trick roll, Nick the B&E. I'm taking suspicious circs." Grissom handed out slips as he spoke.

"What about Sara?" Nick spoke up.

"Where is she?" Grissom looked around the break room, but couldn't see her.

"I don't..." Nick was cut off as Sara Sidle walked in.

"Sorry I'm late." she sank down on the couch, sounding out of breath. "I had...something to take care of."

"You're on a suspicious circs case with me." Grissom ignored her tardiness and handed her the slip.

"Great." The team dispersed and headed off to their respective cases.

"I'll meet you in the parking lot in fifteen minutes." Grissom told the brunette. She nodded and got off the couch.

--

Twentyfiveminutes afterwards, Grissom was sitting in the car looking at his watch for the fifth time, wondering where his co-worker could have gone. He picked up his phone and dialed her number. It rang eight times before she picked up.

"Sidle." he could hear weariness in her voice

"Sara, it's Gil. We need to get to the scene."

"Sorry, Gris. I was just... getting my kit. I'll be out in a second." They hung up without goodbyes and she appeared two minutes later carting her kit. She tossed it in the back seat and joined Grissom in the front.

"Ready?" he asked

"Yeah, sorry. I couldn't find my boots."

"The scene's half an hour away." He pulled out of the parking lot and expertly onto the road, where the traffic was heavy even for that time of evening. "A neighbor called about..." he looked over when he realized that she wasn't listening. Her head was leaned against the window and her eyes were closed. It took a moment for him to realize that she was asleep. It seemed odd since the general joke around work was that Sara never slept at all. He just shook his head and turned down the radio. If she needed to sleep, he wasn't going to stop her.

--

"Sara? Sara, wake up." Grissom shook the woman awake when they reached the scene. She muttered something in a language he didn't understand.

"Mato?" she murmured

"Sara, we're at the scene." Grissom told her again.

"Gris?" she yawned and faced him. "Oh, we're here already?"

"It's been forty five minutes."

"Was I asleep?" she jumped out of the front seat and grabbed her kit.

"Yeah. I didn't want to wake you. You seemed tired."

"I was, thanks."

"Are you okay to work?" he asked, concerned.

"Oh, of course. I'm fine."

"Did you sleep at all last night?"

"No." they were both interrupted when Detective Vega walked over.

"Gil, Sara." He nodded to the both of them.

"Hello, detective. What do we have here?" Grissom gestured to the scene.

"Well," Vega started "The neighbor called the station after hearing the couple next door yelling at eachother."

"So, it's more a domestic disturbance?" Sara asked

"That's what I thought, but supposedly a chicked flew out the window."

"A live chicken?"

"Yeah. Who knows what went on?" Sara shrugged

"Okay," she said, apparently still tired "let's get this over with." 

Grissom raised an eyebrow as he looked sideways at her. It was going to be a long night.

--

"That took forever." Sara sighed as she sunk down on the breakroom couch hours later. Nick, who had just gotten back from his case, sat down beside her.

"You've worked triples and not complained." he reminded her "What's on your mind?"

"Oh, nothing. I've just been working on something with Jordan?"

"That's your friend from Georgia?" 

"Best friend." Sara corrected him.

"Ah. What kind of thing?"

"Nothing important." she waved a hand to dismiss the subject and yawned again."When's shift over?"

"Four hours ago." Nick chuckled as she groaned and levered herself off the couch.

"Well, I'm heading out. If you see Gris, tell him I have the photos from our crime scene. I uploaded them, but the backups are with me."

"Okay. See you tomorrow, Sar."

"Yeah." she waved at Nick down the hall.

--

"Nick!" Grissom caught him just as he was walking out "Have you seen Sara?"

"She left about half an hour ago. Why?"

"She took the wrong photo disk. Catherine needs them."

"Well, you can try calling her, but she's probably asleep."

"I'll just go over on my way home." Grissom decided aloud "It's on my way."

--

An hour later, Grissom reached Sara's apartment building. It was a nondescript red brick building that looked like all the others in the neighborhood. He had been there only twice before, but still remembered the way up. They had exchanged keys, so getting inside would be no problem. He climbed the stairs since there was no elevator. The walk to the eighth floor had him breathing slightly heavier than usual, but a moment's pause calmed it back down. Sliding the apropriate key in the lock, he entered the small foyer and walked into the larger main room. He heard muttering from the bedroom, so he walked back slowly, looking at the scattered pictures on the wall. One was of Sara and Jordan, another was of the Vegas team and the final one was of Sara and a tall brown haired man who Grissom didn't know.

"Damn!" he heard 

"Sara? What's..." he froze as he entered the room. Sara was standing to one side, the blinds closed, referring to a book. That in itself wasn't what was bothering him. What was, was the fact that from her hands were flowing waves of shimmering blue and green. 

"What in the...?" Sara looked up and met his eyes. Realizing who it was, she quickly, and somewhat hostily drew her arms across her body and quickly downwards, stopping the flow of whatever the blue and green was. 

"Gil, why..."

"I was just here for the...photos." he pointed to her kit in the corner.

"Oh. Here." she pulled out a disk and handed it to him. "Is that all?" running a hand through her hair, she stared him in the eyes until he had to look away.

"One question, Sara. What were you just doing?"

"Nothing."

"That's not..." suddenly it hit him "Oh, good lord you're a..."

"That's right, Grissom." she sighed, making eye contact with him once more "I'm a mage."

A/N: So, what'd you think? I hope you enjoyed the chapter. It will get much better. There might even be some GSR later on. Please R&R and tell me what you think. Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: This, I think, is one of the funnest things I've ever written. I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I'm enjoying writing it. 

"How?" Grissom and Sara had moved into the main room. He was sitting on the couch, and a nervous Sara was pacing in front of it, looking at him expectantly. "Mages are the product of medieval paranoia." she shook her head. 

"I know it's hard to believe, Grissom, but it's true."

"Sara..." she held up a hand, signaling for silence.

"I'm not crazy, Grissom. It took me a while to wrap my head around it at first, too."

"What do you mean 'at first?'" he asked cautiously.

"I wasn't born a mage, Gil. I was targeted."

"What does that mean." Sara sighed. There was no escaping it now.

"Why don't I begin from the beginning." she settled into a chair and leaned her elbows on her knees. "Not all mages are born with their skills, Gris. Very rarely, a divine being will take notice of a mortal and teach them their skill."

"What do you mean by 'their skill?'" 

"It's complicated. Each human born has a magical skill burried within them but a special few are in touch with Gods and Goddesses from the time they are born. Those are the ones that get taken to the magical realms and taught their skill."

"Well, if you're in touch with yours, why aren't you in the 'magical realms?'"

"Because, people dont stay there. They go there periodically, but come back to this realm. Granted, there are many that choose to stay there, in fear that mortals will find out about their skill."

"Kind of like I did?"

"Yeah. Anyways, I was...fifteeen, I think, when a goddess approached me in my sleep and told me that I had been targeted as a 'special one.' She took me to her realm and explained all this. Every night for two months, I was taken to the realm of Kantara and taught the skills of the mage."

"Uh..." Grissom ran a hand through his hair "Okay."

"You still don't believe me?" she asked, an exasperated tone lacing her voice.

"I'm...sorry, Sara, but I can't help it. I've always been taught that there is viable proof for everything. This just doesn't fit under that category."

"Oh for..." she muttered crossly "Come with me."he stood up and followed her into a small room that looked like an office. She walked into a closet and pulled out a large book and a sapphire coloured stone with a green swirl in the centre.

"What are you...?" she took his hand 

"Shut up and let me concentrate." she opened the book to a page around the middle and read a few words in a language unknown to Grissom. After that, she clutched the stone and closed her eyes. After she murmured a phrase, Grissom felt as if the world was whirling around him. "Close your eyes." Sara murmured. He did, and, a moment later he felt as if he was in a wind tunnel.

"Where..." Sara shushed him for another few moments.

"Wait here." she muttured when he felt his feet on solid ground.

"Can I open my eyes now?"

"No. Wait." Sara let go of his hand and walked away.

"Sara?" he called.

"Wait!"she called from far away.

"What the hell is this?"another voice yelled.

"Shut up and come with me." Grissom heard Sara say. A moment later, two pairs of footsteps came into the area.

"Open your eyes." Grissom did, and almost fell over when he saw Jordan Williams standing in front of him.

"Don't you live in..."

"Augusta, Georgia." she nodded

"How did we..."

"Now do you believe me?" Sara asked

"Yes." he nodded, unbelieving "That's proof."

"Wait a sec, Sara." Jordan pulled her friend around to face her "He _knows_?"

"He found out." Sara confirmed

"Why does she know?" Grissom gestured to Jordan.

"I'm one, too." she admitted

"That's a coincidence." he looked over at Sara with a raised eyebrow.

"Actually, it's not." They said at once 

"Mages can sense when another one is in the same region." Sara took over "I could feel it as soon as I moved here, but when we met, it was...overwhelming."

"Yeah, we both had to go outside and get some air after that." Jordan grinned "So, Sar, what are you going to do?"

"I don't know." for one of the first times since Grissom had met her, Sara looked truly worried "I'm hoping that they didn't find out." 

"You know that Ammariah will be all over you soon enough." Jordan murmured to Sara, almost inaudably. 

"I know." Sara ran a hand through her hair "What do you think they're going to do to me?"

"I don't know. If only Ammariah found out, she might hide it for you, but if..."

"Anyone else found out, I'm toast." Sara finished

"What do you mean toast?" Grissom felt uneasy out of the loop of knowlege.

"The all powerful ruler, who looks over all the realms, made it illegal to tell any mortal about one's powers."

"But, you didn't tell me, I found out myself." 

"It doesn't matter. It's the principle of the whole thing." Sara sighed and turned back to Jordan "I hope it was only Ammariah."

"Who's Ammariah?" his head was spinning with all this new information.

"She's the Goddess who visited me. She contacts me when I'm needed in Kantara, and periodically to make sure I'm still practicing."

"Why do you still need to practice? Aren't you already a mage?"

"I..." Sara wrang her hands as she spoke "can't tell you that."

"Why?"

"It's just against the rules." Grissom grinned despite himself 

"You barely follow the lab's rules."

"Believe me, these consequences are worse than anything even Ecklie could think up for me."

"Wow." 

"Um, guys?" Jordan interrupted "I have to work tomorrow."

"Oh, sorry Jordan, we're on our way." Sara grabbed Grissom's hand again and clutched the stone in the other.

"Tell me what happens tonight." Jordan mumured into Sara's ear as she hugged her friend "Good luck. It won't be long."

"I know." Sara whispered back. Jordan stepped back, and Sara murmured a few words. Moments later, they were standing in Sara's room. 

"I'll keep this to myself." Grissom told her as they walked to the main living area.

"I would..." Sara trailed off as she lay eyes on a tall woman with light red hair and ice blue eyes.

"Who..." Sara elbowed Grissom in the side, instantly silencing him. She knelt on the floor, and, puzzled, Grissom followed her example.

"Stand up, Alkina." the woman's voice sounded like a dozen small bells. It was very musical, yet forceful at the same time. Sara stood, and Grissom followed, feeling out of place.

"Who's Alkina?" he whispered to Sara. She shot him a look that plainly said 'be quiet.'

"Answer him." The woman gestured to Grissom.

"That's my name in the magical realms. It means 'the moon,' because I'm the most powerful at night." Sara murmured before turning her attention back to the now standing woman.

She had a floor length gown that was forest green. There was a light, mesh like material covering the darker fabric. It made her blue eyes stand out. Her hair was braided down her back, as not to obstruct the modest ivy crown on her head. She carried a knotted wood staff that was engraved with modest, intricate carvings in the same shade of green as her outfit.

"Is he the one?" Grissom looked up, realizing that she was talking about him.

"Yes, he is." Sara replied quietly.

"How did he find out?"

"I was practicing and he walked into the room. I couldn't stop in time, and he saw my magic." Sara looked at the floor, ashamed. "I'm sorry I let you down."

"Sara," the woman rarely used Sara's real name, but it seemed appropriate for that moment "You have not let me down. I am not dissapointed. However hard it isto believe, this whole ordeal is leading up to something much bigger."

"What do you mean?" Sara looked up into the woman's warm gaze

"Now is not the time for such a conversation." she waved a hand in dismissal "Come to Kantara tomorrow at daybreak and meet me in the forest. Bring the mortal, too. It'll do more harm than good to leave him here unattended."

"Are you the...?" Sara couldn't help but ask.

"Only one who knows? Yes, I am." The woman's expression looked almost as relieved as Sara's "You're lucky that more of us were preoccupied with the war."

"What's going on now?"

"Gunota's leader just ordered his warriors to move forward. It's taken everything we have to hold them back. Our allies should be coming for reinforcements soon, possibly in two days. We can hold them off until then." the woman smiled "Now, I must go back. Remember. Tomorrow at daybreak with the mortal."

"In the forest." Sara confirmed

"Keep well, Alkina, until then." With that the woman was gone.

"Who was that?" Grissom asked, breaking the deafening silence that encompassed the room.

"That was Ammariah, my Goddess. She knows that I told you. You have to come with me to the forest tomorrow." 

"But, I have work." he protested, unsure of what would happen if he went.

"Believe me, you don't want to anger a goddess. Call in and use a vacation day. It's my day off anyways, so I'm covered." Grissom nodded.

"Alright. So, when do I have to be here?"

"Just stay in the spare room." Sara pointed down the hall "Their time is different than ours. By the time you got over here, daybreak would be long gone."

"Why couldn't you..." she glared at him.

"I just can't, Grissom. Take my word on this."

"Alright. I'll just drop the photos off for Catherine and grab some clothes."

"Good. Let yourself in on your way back. I'm exhausted."

"Okay." Grissom left the apartment and went to his car. Only when he was inside did he let the evening's events hit him. "Oh dear god." he muttered "What have I gotten myself in to now?"

--

"Gris? Wake up." Sara shook Grissom awake the next morning. The sun was streaming in the windows. "We have to go."

"Go where?" he asked groggily 

"Come on, get up." he pushed himself into a sitting position. Sara smiled at the sight of him in his pajamas "Change clothes quick."

"Mmhmm." he murmured, picking up a folded pile of clothing. Sara stepped out of the room, and two minutes later, Grissom was in the hallway with her.

"Alright." Saa took his hand, and then took a deep breath. Her stone hung loosely off a thick string on her neck. She grasped it and clearly said two sentences in the same unknown language as before. Grissom felt the wind-tunnel feeling once again, and when it stopped, he felt a breeze. Opening his eyes, they were in a clearing in a forest.

Even though back in Vegas the sun had been bright, it was just starting to rise and filter in through the trees in this new location.

"Where are we?" he asked Sara quietly, never taking his eyes from the trees. They were the biggest he had ever seen.

"The magical realm of Kantara." At the sound of Sara's voice, Grissom tore his eyes from the foliage and stared at her. He was used to hearing her voice as detatched and objective with hints of humour. Now, her voice sounded warm and full of spirit. Looking at her, he realized that in this new world, everything was different.

Sara's hair was still its brown colour, but ithung down just past her waist. She was also no longer wearing the jeans and t-shirt that she had been in her apartment. She was clad in a long pastel blue and green silky dress. It had a green sash and flared sleeves. He looked her up and down once and realized that she was barefoot, and also carrying a sword. The sheath was almost the same colour as her dress, and the hilt was hidded in its folds, as to be invisible, except from close up. Her eyes, however, were the most striking. Usually a solid brown, her irises were their usual 

brown, but the had blue wavy lines extending outwards from the pupil and green flecks scattered around. 

"Sara?" he questioned. She looked so immensely different that he had to be sure of who she was.

"Yes," she answered "but, here I'm usually addressed as..." she was cut off by the woman from the previous night

"Alkina."Ammariah finished "Right on time."

"Yes, Ammariah. What have you to tell me?" Sara's language was different as well, and Grissom couldn't help but wonder what was the same about her. 

"Not here."the Goddess looked around cautiously "At your hut. Lead the way." Sara started walking, but Ammariah stopped her "Unsheath your sword."

"Is it that hostile?" Sara asked, surprised.

"You can never tell when a Gunotan warrior will jump out, and you're out of practice."

"Understood." Sara nodded and pulled out her sword. Grissom couldn't identify the emotion he felt when he saw her with the weapon. Somehow, she looked stronger and more imposing. He wasn't sure if he was scared of that, or ifit made him even more attracter to her.Either way, he thought as he walked down a worn path between Sara and the Goddess, he was in this now, and there was no getting out.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please R&R and tell me what you think.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Here's chapter three. Thanks to the people who reviewed chapter 1&2. If anyone is confused with the changing names, just say so (review or PM) and I'll put some character profiles on my profile.

* * *

After about half an hour of walking on the path, the group reached a small hut with a straw roof.

"What is it?" Grissom turned to Sara.

"It's my old place. I always stay here when I come."

"Old place?"

"Each new being is given a hut to make their own. Periodically, they are needed for extended periods of time. Unlike the mortal realm, we have no hotels here, and we can not impose one person upon another." Ammariah explained to him.

"I haven't been here in a while." Sara explained as they made their way through the somewhat unruly grass in front of the home.

Sara held the door open for Ammariah and Grissom, and then walked in behind them. As soon as she stepped inside, something didn't feel right. She heard a noise behind her, and since both her companions were standing in front of her, she knew there was someone in the house that wasn't invited. Bringing her sword up, Sara swung around, pulling the weapon in a large arc in front of her body.

"Careful with that." the unknown intruder said "You could really hurt someone."

"Jordan." Sara relaxed when she saw the familiar face of her friend "What are you doing here? I thought you had to work."

"I did. After you talked to Ammariah, she came to me and explained that whether you knew it or not, you were going to need me here."

"How come I didn't..."

"Sense me?" Jordan smiled "I blocked you out. I learned how."

"You're going to have to teach me that one." Sara commented before turning back to the Goddess

"Your sword skills have gotten no worse." the woman praised

"What's going on?" Sara asked "Why am I going to need Jordan here?"

"Alkina," the Goddess sighed "I had hoped this would never happen to someone I cared about."

"Ammariah?" Sara had never heard the woman sound so dejected

"You are the one to fufill the ancient prophecy."

"What prophecy?" The Goddess caught Sara's eye and their gazes locked.

"An ancient one. You are the one to end the war between the realms." Sara paled

"What?" she whispered "That thing's been going on for centuries. How am I going to stop it. I'm only one person."

"You shall not fight alone." Ammariah closed her eyes and recited a phrase straight from the prophecy. It was in the unknown language, but it translated as "The chosen one shall be accompanied by a strong group of warriors who will battle to the end for the peace."

"What is that language?" Grissom whispered to Jordan.

"It's Kantan." she whispered back "It's the native language of the Kantarans and the first thing any child is taught." she then motioned for silence as the Goddess and Sara turned to Grissom.

"The chosen one is the person who revealed their secret powers to a mortal. Since this is the man who brought it on, he must be a part of your warriors." Ammariah placed a hand on Grissom's chest.

"Wait." the woman pulled her hand off at the sound of Sara's voice. "Jordan? Will you join my warriors?"

"Of course I will, Alkina." Jordan used her friend's formal name to emphasize the serious nature of the question.

"All right, Ammariah." Sara took a deep breath "I just had to make her the first."

"Understood." the Goddess placed her hand on Grissom's chest once more.

"What's she doing?" he asked cautiously

"She's finding your ability and bringing it out." Sara explained "Now, be quiet and let her."

"What if I don't want an ability." he protested, trying to regain some control over his own life.

"You have no choice." Sara ran two fingers over his hand in a sympathetic gesture "It'll be fine. I promise."

"Okay." he turned to the Goddess "Do it."

She placed her hand back on his chest a third time and closed her eyes. Muttering a sentence in Kantan, great streams of deep green mixed with lighter green swirled around Grissom and Ammariah.He felt as if she was looking into his very soul, and in hindsight he realized that's what she had been doing. Soon, the green was darkened by swirls of brown and blue. There was a small, thin line of green that was soon engulfed by the brown/blue. Ammariah tore her hand away, eyes wide.

"What?" Sara and Jordan asked simultaniously. The Goddess usually had a calm demeanor. Now, she looked scared.

"I've never seen this before."she muttered "His mix of magic is unheard of."

"What is it?" Sara looked sideways at Grissom. Ammariah started talking in Kantan, so Grissom couldn't understand.

"He is a Wizard with a touch of alchemy.However, one of the more prominent magic coming out is that of a Sorcerer."

"Black magic?" Sara whispered in Kantan.

"Yes. I saw it only at the end, and by that time, I had brought out too much of his ability to reverse it. It completely took my magic over. Whatever he is, he's powerful. We need to get him trained."

"Okay." Sara switched back to english and ran a hand through her hair "Let's get Mato over here."

"You must." Ammariah nodded to Sara "That drained my energy. I must rest." she walked to the back of the hut and lay down on a pile of straw covered in a thick material made of dried sap.

"Here goes nothing." Sara muttered. She closed her eyes and muttered a few words.The waves of blue and green entwined themselves around her. They seemed to grow and then there was a small explosive energy wave that made Grissom lean against the wall for balance. Sara quickly crossed her arms across herself and a moment later it was all over. There was, however, a new man was standing in the room.He had sandy coloured hair and his eyes were a yellow and orange sunburst pattern.

"That was an interesting summoning spell." he commented dryly

"It got away from me for a second." Sara admitted before turning to Grissom "Gil, this is Mato. He is one of the most powerful mages in the realm. In all the realms, in fact."

"As usual, you flatter me." Mato joked

"Your eyes don't lie."she shot back.

"What?" Grissom, once again, felt as if he were the only one who didn't get the punch line.

"You can tell the degree of a mage's power from the colour and pattern of their eyes. The more powerful a mage, the more complex the pattern of their eyes.The most powerful mages have a sunburst pattern."

"What do yours say?"Grissom had always believed that the eyes were the window to the soul,but so many of his theories were changing, he couldn't help but ask.

"Mine are bi-coloured, which is something in itself." Sara explained "Usually, the more inexperienced mages have eye colours that are either solid, or a variation of eachother. Jordan's, for example are blue/grey and blue. The blue/grey is just a variation of the blue itself."

"Aren't there three colours in your eyes?" he asked

"Only two are purely mine." Sara nodded to Ammariah "The green is hers. Each being has their own magical colour. Jordan's is blue and grey, Mato's is yellow and orange, and mine is blue and green. It would be different, but Ammariah chose me and her colour is a mixture of two greens. Since she practically gave me my magic, I took on a variation of her colour."

"Uh...okay." Grissom's head was spinning "So what's your mage friend doing here?"

"He's here to train you." she explained "The use of your ability doesn't come totally naturally. It has to be taught to you."

"I taught Alkina, so now I'm teaching you." Mato opened the hut door "Step outside."

"Mato." Sara said in Kantan "Watch out. Black magic."

"Really?" Mato raised an eyebrow "Then I guess I'll just have to harness that and use it for good."

"If anyone can do it, it's you." She grinned

A tired looking Grissom walked in a while later, Mato following.

"How'd it go?" Sara asked

"I almost set a tree on fire." Grissom wasn't used to failing that badly at anything, and it was bothering him.

"You'll get the hang of it. There's a river a little ways down the path where you can get cleaned up. I'll show you the way."

"No," Mato corrected "Miriyan will show him. I need to see you."

"Who's Miriyan?" Grissom asked, confused with all the new names.

"That's Jordan's Kantaran name." Sara turned to Mato "Stop using our Kantaran names. It's confusing him." Mato shook his head.

"He has to learn."

"Whatever. Why do you need to see me?"

Mato switched his language to Kantan "If you have to take on the war of the realms, you can't be losing handle on your skills like that. You need to practice."

"Okay." Sara replied in english, sighing "Jordan,do you mind?"

"Not at all." The brunette replied "Come on, Gil."The two walked out. When they were gone, Ammariah came back into the room.

"Alkina," she addressed Sara "I must leave soon, but Mato is right. You need to get a handle on your skills before the time comes when you'll need to use them."

"I understand." Sara nodded "Thank you."the Goddess just nodded, and with a smile, she was gone.

"Alright,"Mato held the door open "Let's get some work done." they both stood in a small clearing outside "Now," he said "Show me what you can do."

Fifteen minutes later, Grissom and Jordan were making their way back up the path. Sara and Mato were still in the front working.

"Want to watch for a minute?" Jordan asked Grissom

"Sure." he leaned against a tree while Jordan sat down on a stump.Neither Sara nor Mato noticed the two spectators.

"What are they doing now?" Grissom asked. Sara had the waves of blue and green magic flowing out of her hands, but she had them pointed at a black, chalky looking board that Mato was holding up.

"He's testing her control." Jordan explained "He'll probably give you the same test in a bit.The board is very special. He put a spell it that prevents it from being effected by magic. All Sara's doing is practicing holding a spell for a long ammount of time before she loses control of it."

"Is that what happened in the house?" he referred to the seemingly explosive effect that she produced.

"Yeah. I've never seen her do that before." Jordan shrugged "She's probably just out of practice." Her statement was reinforced when there was a flare of blue and green and the black board ceased to exist. Sara brought her arms to her side before she blasted Mato into oblivion, then sunk down on the ground with a sigh.

"You _need_ to get control back." Mato was saying "If you don't, your skills are useless."

"You don't think I know that?" Sara snapped "At this rate I'm going to lose all my ability and I'll be worthless."

"No you won't." Mato reassured her "I won't let that happen to you. Get back up. We'll keep going until you get it right."

"Fine." Sara stood with another sigh "Do you have more of that wood stuff?"

"No. Just aim blank magic at that rock. Nothing should happen."

Sara sighed and followed his instructions. If this was the kind of skill she was going to use to fufill the mysterious prophecy, they were all doomed.

Half an hour after Grissom and Jordan had stopped watching, Sara and Mato walked into the hut. Sara made a beeline for the straw bed and collapsed on it.

"How did she do?" Jordan asked the older mage quietly

"She has absolutely no control over what she's doing." He murmured back "I don't know what to do with her. Right now she'd be pressed to take on a bug, let alone an army of warriors."

Sara sighed into the straw. She was exhausted because magic drained her energy unbelievably quickly, but she couldn't seem to control what she was doing no matter how hard she tried. She drifted off to sleep, but was only out for about twenty minutes before an image of Ammariah came to her.

"Relax, Alkina." Ammariah told the dream image of Sara "I've projected myself into your dreams so you can sleep."

"I'm sorry, Ammariah." Sara hung her head "I didn't mean to forget everything."

"You didn't. It'll come back to you. Just relax."Ammariah reassured her with her warm tone. Sara sighed

"I don't think I'm the right one to fufill this prophecy."

"You are the only one."

"How? Did you see me today? I couldn't aim blank magic at a rock without messing it up. That's the first thing I learned to do."

"You're out of practice."at that moment the Goddess sounded like an old friend more than a mentor and a guardian "I'll try to stop by tomorrow and I'll go over a few things with you. The next while will be busy, and you need to be ready. Just relax tonight, and we'll pick this up tomorrow." the Goddess and Dream Sara faded, and soon Sara was in a deep, dreamless sleep.

"Well, look who's awake." Mato had stayed over the night before, and was the only one awake when Sara walked outside.

"Can it, Mato." she growled "I'm not in the mood."

"You are aware that I could obliterate you on the spot, right?"

"With the way my luck's going, I'd probably do the same to you by mistake."

"Relax." he handed her a wooden bowl of something "Here. Eat and then we'll start where we left off yesterday."

"Where did you get this?" she asked, eyeing the food "We don't have anything close to a kitchen in there."

"It's called an old fashioned fire. You really are out of it."

"Shut up." Sara smiled "Where'd you get the food."

"I'm a powerful mage. I can do pretty much whatever I want."

"And you're modest too." Mato grinned at their friendly banter and kicked some dirt at her.

"You're too cocky. You should fear me." he joked

"Fear you?" Sara laughed "In your dreams." Mato scowled at her and shot a wave of yellow orange magic at her. She used one hand and deflected it expertly.

"Nice reflexes." he commented

"That was a sissy attack. A baby could have beaten that one."

"Oh yeah?" he looked pensive for a moment "Try this for size." he raised his arms

"Wait." Sara put her bowl down "Now try." he shot more of the firey coloured waves straight at her. None of them came close to touching her. "Is that all you're going to throw at me?" she taunted. Glaring at her, he shot two waves at her. One to her left and one to her right. Sara just devoted one hand to each wave and stopped them before they hit her. It went on like that for over ten minutes before Mato started trying to hit her. Each wave, she matched perfectly with one of her own, effectively stopping them in mid-flow. As Sara was blocking a wave from above and below simultaniously, he shot a large wave at her. She looked up and saw it as it was flowing towards her. This shot looked different. It was visibly larger and it seemed to sparkle brightly as if it was flecked with gold. Sara's eyes widened as she realized what it was. Closing her eyes, she pointed her hands in the general direction of the magic and shot a wave of her own at it. It didn't seem to be slowing down. Mato looked curiously at her, and then at the wave. As he also realized what it was, his calm expression was replaced with one of fear. He also aimed another wave of magic at it, but the first wave kept ploughing towards Sara. At the last moment, Ammariah appeared beside her and aimed her wooden staff at it, shooting a cascade of green magic at it. Only then did it start to fade and dissapear.

"What the hell was that?" Sara demanded "That could have very well killed me! What were you thinking?"

"I am so sorry." Mato's face had turned pale when he realized that he had almost killed one of his better friends "I got caught up in the moment."

"At least Ammariah came in when she did. If she hadn't, I'd be dead right now."

"Sara..." even though the Goddess' skin was usually pale, it had also lost all trace of colour "In the confusion, I shot blank magic at it."

"Oh, well, thanks for saving my life, Mato." but the older mage was staring at her in disbelief.

"Mine bounced off."

"So that was..." Sara started

"You." Ammariah and Mato said at once.

"That was..." he started

"Unprecedened." the woman filled in. "That was the most powerful I've ever seen you."

"That was one of my more powerful shots in itself. I never..." he shook his head "Good job. If you can do that all the time..."

"Well, at least it was controlled." she grinned crookedly. The other two laughed nervously..

"Okay." Ammariah was the first to get control of the situation "Nobody's hurt. Sara, come with me. Your sword fighting lesson starts now."

"Oh, so now it's Sara and not Alkina. Make up your mind." Sara grinned

"We'll use both at our will." the Goddess said, still unervered about the almost incident.

"I feel like I'm just starting out again."Sara said as she passed Mato, smiling "Have fun with Grissom. Tell Jordan where I am."

"Sure." the older mage picked up the bowls absently "I'll pass it along."

"Appreciate it." Sara waved as they left.

"Do I want to know what happened?" Jordan laughed as Sara walked into the hut, covered in mud.

"Ammariah caught my sword, tried to twist it out of my hands, I held on, tried to turn around but got caught on a root and fell in a mud puddle." Sara grinned "Rather messy, isn't it?"

"As a correction, it was more of a mud lake." Ammariah seemed to be in good spirits, as she was smiling widely at Sara.

"Must you mock me?" Sara pretended to be offended

"Oh, grow up." Jordan punched Sara gently in the arm

"Hypocrite." Sara set down her sword and turned towards the door "I'm going to go get cleaned up."

"That'd be smart."

When Sara got back from the river, Grissom was sitting in front of the hut.

"Hey." She sat down beside him

"Hey. Where were you."

"Washing mud off myself."

"Hmm." he raised an eyebrow "I don't think I want to know."

"So, how's training going?"

"It's hard." Grissom admitted "I can't do anything."

"You've been at it for basically one day,Gil. It's not going to come to you naturally. It takes a lot of work."

"Not for you." he muttered, thinkingabout how easily Sara's ability seemed to come to her

"You should have seen me at first." Sara smiled at the memory "Mato didn't know what to do with me."

"Why?" Grissom pictured a young Sara trying to work with a power and smiled.

"Well, first off, I didn't listen to him until he pinned me against a tree with his magic and made me listen. I also had major control issues. Like once, I accidentally threw Mato so far he landed in the river. Oh man, he was mad at me for a week after that." Grissom chuckled

"So, what is this prophecy that everyone's talking about?" Sara sighed

"It's complicated."

"I have all day."

"Fine." she crossed her arms behind her head and settled down and started to explain "There's been a war going on between the magical realms for centries. There are 8 realms. Gunota, Yelago, Posketa, Caprety, Oreatno, Jelina, Madlanna and Kantara."

"What are they fighting about."

"I don't think anyone really knows. It breaks down to one realm saying that they're better than another. The two start fighting, and somewhere along the way the other realms join in. There's this ruler, who oversees all the realms. He calls himself the 'All mighty and powerful great ruler.' Needless to say, he thinks highly of himself. Anyways, he's half demon."

"Is that important?"

"Very. The entire reason why the realms are still fighting is because the ruler keeps it going. If he wanted it to stop, he could stop it himself. He's very powerful. However, since he's half demon, he keeps it going because that's the only way he can still stay alive. Demons get their power off bloodshed and anger. The rule is that they can't shed the blood themselves. They can take over a body and shed the blood that way, but nowadays people know about that over here, and they can block them out. The ruler wants to stay powerful, and the only way he can do that is to keep the war going, because people get killed very frequently, and he lives off their blood."

"What does that have to do with the prophecy." Grissom shook his head unconiously. He didn't know how he was going to hide this when he got back home.

"The prophecy itself is about the one who is going to stop the war. That's me. It says I'm going to be surrounded by warriors. I don't know where I'm going to find half of the warriors I need to take on this war. I also don't know what type of warriors to ask, how I'm going to keep them committed to the battle against the war, or how I'm going to manage to get powerful enough to take on the ruler in the end." Sara sighed "And, on top of all that, I have a completely different life going on in the mortal realms and I need an excuse as to why I'm missing all this time at work."

"Well, that I can take care of." Grissom was relieved that he could finally help "I'll write a report saying that you approached me privately and asked to take some time off for a personal matter. Heaven knows you have enough vacation days to use up."

"Thank you, Gris. That means a lot." Sara stood up and he followed.

"Not a problem. You might consider going back to Vegas for a couple hours or something to make it look as if you planned to leave."

"Good idea. I'll go tomorrow. You want to come?"

"I'm going to need to write that report, so I'll come."

"Alright. I'll tell the others."

Sara left, but Grissom sat back down and wondered how he was going to hide this whole experience from the people he considered to be his family.

_Oh well,_ he thought _It could be worse. I would be in Sara's situation._

At the time he didn't know how acurate that statement was, but as the preparations turned into a battle, he was going to find out.

* * *

A/N: Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please review and tell me what you thought.


	4. Rhea

A/N: Thanks to the awesome reviewers from chapters 1,2 and 3. You all keep this story going

Shoutout: This chapter is for my friend Rhea. Happy Birthday Ray )

* * *

"Grissom." Sara whispered early the next morning "Get up."

"What?" he mumbled, somewhat annoyed. He was used to being the one in charge, and whether he knew it or not, he didn't like not feeling in control.

"We have to go."

"Where?"

"Vegas." Sara hid her grin. Grissom was usually the one with the answers. It was fun to be in the drivers' seat for once.

"Oh. I'm ready." he stood up hastily, noticing Sara grinning "It's not funny."

"I'm not laughing at you." she took his hand "Come on." Grissom was getting more used to the rushing, wind tunnel feeling that came with traveling between realms, so it seemed to be over before it even began. They were soon standing back in Sara's apartment, and looking over, she looked exactly the same as she always did.

"We can't stay long, so don't take forever. Write that report and make an excuse for your absence, then we have to go."

"Why so uptight?"

"I still need to do a million things with Ammariah and Mato, so I can't stay too long."

"Why can't you just leave me here?"

"Grissom?" she raised an eyebrow in his direction

"I'll be quick."

* * *

"Where in the world have you been?" Catherine demanded when Grissom walked in twenty minutes later.

"I've been..." it was only then that he realized that he didn't have an excuse.

"He's been with me." Sara put in quickly.

"And where have you been?" the blonde turned her attention to Sara

"At home."

"Why?" Sara sighed

"You just don't give up, do you?"

"No. So, why?"

"It's a...family matter." Sara said quietly "I needed a friend and Grissom volunteered."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Catherine placed a hand on Sara's shoulder, but she just shrugged it off.

"It's okay. I'm just going to take some time off and...deal."

"I'm going to take some time with her and help out." Catherine raised an eyebrow at Grissom

"Really?"

"Is that so hard to believe?" he asked

"Truthfully? Yes. Glad you've finally gotten your head out of the microscope." he gave her a good natured scowl

"Thank you for the straight answer, Catherine. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to fill out some paperwork and leave."

"I'll cover for you."

**Later**

Grissom and Sara walked out into the parking lot together, followed closely by Catherine. Warrick, Nick and Greg had just returned from their respective cases, and were beckoned over by Catherine.

"Something's up with those two." she muttered, not noticing the orange tabby that was prowling nearby "I want to find out what it is."

"Cath, I think you're paranoid." Warrick said

"I'm not. I just..." she stopped as she saw a bright flash from behind a tree "Am I the only one who just saw that?"

"No." Nick's jaw was practically on the ground

"God, I wish I knew what just happened." the cat gave a version of a smile and a moment later Catherine, Nick, Warrick and Greg were rushing between the realms, unaware of what was going to happen next.

* * *

When Grissom and Sara were back in Kantara, Jordan found them immediately.

"Where've you been?"she asked

"Vegas. Didn't you know?"

"I did, but Ammariah didn't."

"Uh oh."

"Uh oh is right. She's pissed."

"Why? It's not like I'm a slave to her."

"Sara..." Jordan warned

"I know, I know. I'll go find her."

"Good luck." Grissom gave Jordan a confused look

"What's so bad about Ammariah not knowing?"

"Goddesses are usually control freaks. Ammariah takes that to a whole new level. Besides, she still has loads of stuff to go over with Sara before...Well, before it's too late."

"When is it going to be too late?" he asked warily

"Sooner than any of us want. Ammariah said that other realms have already started talking about invading."

"Invading where?"

"Here, you idiot. If we're going to be ready, we're going to need to be ready soon."

"So that means..." Grissom felt, once again, as if he was the only one who didn't get the joke.

"That means that you're going to have to go find Mato." she grinned "He's out front."

"Thanks."

* * *

"Do you know just how serious this is?" Ammariah practically yelled at Sara

"Yes I do, but I have a whole other life that I need to live."

"Right now, this is what matters more." The Goddess was obviously struggling to keep her voice at an appropriate level "The fate of this whole realm is in your hands. If this doesn't work, we might as well all die in battle, because the realm will be destroyed if we lose."

"I get it, Ammariah, but I had to make a viable excuse for leaving for so long."

"Good, so let's..." she stopped when she saw a blinding flash in front of her. When the light dissapeared, Catherine, Nick, Warrick and Greg were standing in the clearing in front of Sara and Ammariah, with a tall strawberry blonde next to them "What in the..."

"Oh my..." Sara shook her head "This can't be happening."

"Sara?" Catherine asked in disbelief, not having recognized her friend.

"Do you know who these mortals are?" the Goddess turned to Sara.

"Uh...yeah. I work with them." Sara gestured to the group "This is Greg, Nick, Warrick and Catherine. Guys, this is Ammariah."

"Who's the other one?" Ammariah pointed to the strawberry blonde standing with the group

"I don't know her." Sara replied, walking slowly over to the unknown woman "She's one of us, though."

"I know that, but I've never seen her around here before."

"You know," the woman said casually "You could just ask me."

"Who are you, and what business do you have bringing mortals to this realm?" Ammariah demanded

"My name's Rheanialla. Call me Rhea." she replied

"Why did you bring the others here?" Sara cut in

"Let me explain." Rhea sat down on a rock "I'm a mage, originally from the realm of Oreatno. I was banished to the mortal realms in the shape of a cat because they accused me of treason against the Mantona. That's our version of the king. They thought I was the fufiller of that ridiculous prophecy. Anyways, the only way I could gain a passage back to these realms and get my powers back was to grant the wish of a mortal."

"You knew about the prophecy?"

"Yeah, I caught some of our elders talking about it."

"Oh, but don't people make wishes all the time?" Sara leaned on a tree across from Rhea "Why didn't you grant one sooner?"

"They make wishes to their God. I couldn't grant one of those. You friend's wish wasn't directed at anyone in particular, so it was fair game. Now I'm here to stay. Who are you?"

"Alkina." Sara said "More commonly known as Sara. "So,why did you come to Kantara, instead of going to Oreatno?"

"They wanted to know where you went, and I had to grant their wish, so I had to come here. Besides, Oreatno's a dump anyways, and the people there hate me. Why would I want to go back. I'm staying here."

"Okay then." Sara shrugged and turned to Ammraiah "What are we going to do about them?" she gestured to the team "I mean, we can't send them back without explaining, and even then, I can't guarantee that they won't say anything." After a moment of thought, the Goddess replied,

"We will do with them what we did with the man. I, along with Mato and yourself, will bring out their abilities and teach them."

"All of them!?" Sara asked, unbelieving.

"Each one. You find Mato, I'll explain about the realms and your role in the war."

"Okay." Sara started walking away, but Rhea got up and ran after her

"I'm coming too." she said "I want to see more of this. I never got to come here to fight."

"So, what level of mage are you?" Sara knew that it would do more harm than good to leave the woman with Ammariah, who was already busy with Catherine, Greg, Nick and Warrick. She figured that if she found out all she could about the new arrival, that she could rate her level of danger to the new force against the war.

"High enough." the woman shrugged

"An actual level would be nice." Sara rolled her eyes

"Last time I checked, I was a level 6." Mages were rated from level 1 to level 17 based on their ability to mix and combine spells, and their overall power. Sara was a level 7.

"So what'd you do to get banished?" They were walking towards a large clearing in the trees that was a little ways behind the hut where Mato and Grissom were training.

"I didn't do anything. A man called Hentrecto framed me by disarming all the spells against black magic that were surrounding the castle. We had a trial, but I knew I was the one who was going to be banished."

"Why? Aren't trials usually supposed to be fair?"

"It would've been if anyone else had framed me, but Hentrecto is an indirect descendant of the Great Ruler. They all knew it, and wouldn't've dared banish him."

"That explains a lot."

"Yeah. They pretty much made my banishing a public affair, so, even if I did go back, I couldn't start over, because everyone knows about me." she pointed to Mato and Grissom "Are those the guys we're looking for?"

"Yeah." Sara felt unusually sorry for this stranger. She knew what it was like to feel uwanted. But as much as she wanted to believe Rhea, she knew that the newcomer would have to be kept under supervision until she could be trusted.

"Mato!" Sara called "You're...needed."

"Where? I'm busy." he didn't take his eyes off Grissom, who was trying very hard to keep a simple spell under control.

"Grissom, stop." he gratefully dropped his arms at the sound of Sara's voice. Mato walked over and stood so close to Sara that only he and she could hear what he was saying, even though he was speaking in Kanran

"Do you know how hard it is to try and teach a man who possesses the power of black magic but doesn't know it? Getting him to harness it and use it for something other than it's original destructive purpose is hard as it is, and he isn't exactly a natural. What do you want?"

"Ammariah wants you."

"For what?"

"Oh, you'll see." Sara grinned

"Why do I suddenly feel a sensation of impending doom?" he folowed her back to the fromt.

"I don't know." she gestured to the group with a sweep of her hand "Maybe because of...them."

"Oh dear God, Sara. What have you done?"

"It wasn't me! It was her." she pointed to Rhea

"Hi." the blonde waved comically

"Oh, this isn't good." Mato started pacing "Having one mortal know is bad enough, but having five? And in the middle of all of this."

"I know, but Ammariah decided that we're going to bring out their powers and teach them."

"Listen," he turned to the Goddess "I know that the situation is bad, but are you sure that this is the answer?"

"We are eventually going to need more warriors, and this is an excellent opportunity."

"Okay." he shrugged, knowing that there was no fighting with a goddess "Sara, get Jordan." With the arrival of the rest of the team, Ammariah and Mato had taken to calling Jordan and Sara by their regular names.

"No need." Jordan walked over to the group "It sounded more populated out here."

"Yeah. Jordan, you remember Catherine, Nick and Warrick?"

"Yeah. Who're the other two?"

"Greg and Rhea." she pointed to each as she spoke "Rhea's the mage who brought them here. I work with Greg."

"Jordan." she nodded to both Rhea and Greg "Known as Miriyan here."

"What's with all the names?" Greg moaned "It's confusing."

"You'll get used to it." Sara waved a hand in dismissal "Now, I need to explain what's going on. Mato, Ammariah and Jordan are going to do this spell that brings out each of your powers. The mechanics of it are very complicated, so I'm not even going to begin to explain it, but as of now you are each morally bound to learn and perfect your skill to the best of your ability."

"Exactly." Mato said, all down to business "We're all going to teach one of you how to use your ability."

"How are you going to do that?" Catherine asked skeptically

"It's complicated. Just trust them." Sara grinned

"Trust _us_, Sara." Mato smiled at her "You're doing it too."

"Mato," she whispered in his ear "I'm not that good and you know it. I would never be able to..."

"You can so. You're a better mage than you think, and I'll talk you through it. I'm going to talk Jordan through it too. It's just to tiring to do more than one of these spells and still be able to train the people."

"Okay. If you think so." she replied nervously

"I do. Now, let's get this done. You take the woman, I'll take the spiky haired guy, Jordan can take Afro guy and Ammariah can take the other one."

"They have names, you know." Sara stepped over to Catherine.

"I know, I just wanted to see if you thought I did." he grinned

"Yeah, that's really the story. Just get on with it."

"Okay. Sara and Jordan, place one of your hands above the hearts of Catherine and Warrick." they both did, and he continued "Now, clear your minds, and concentrate on nothing. Let the ability come to you. Harness it slowly, and you'll know when it's fully developed." Waiting a few moments, Sara felt a surge of energy, and then it stopped.

"Is it over?" she asked

"Yes." Mato had finished with Greg, and Ammariah was also done. Jordan yanked her hand off Warrick a moment later.

"You two." Ammariah beckoned to Jordan and Sara "Come here. Rhea, you too." the blonde walked over and joined the group.

"What am I here for?" she asked. Ammariah turned to Mato, the two having a conversation with their eyes. They couldn't seem to come up with a response, so Sara took over.

"None of us are sure if we can trust you yet." she shrugged "That's it."

"Thought so. That's all I wanted to hear." Rhea leaned against a tree, slightly out of the way but still in view.

"So, what did you get from Catherine?" Mato turned to Sara first

"She's a guardian, no doubt." Sara nodded

"Jordan?"

"Warrior." thinking about Warrick, Sara could see how he had the strength and willpower of a warrior.

"Okay. Nick's a shapeshifter and Greg is a healer."

"Really? That's rare." Rhea spoke up

"It is, but not impossible." Ammariah led the group of five over to the others "Tell them." she nodded to Jordan first

"Warrick, you're a warrior. What that means is that you're strong and forceful. You're going to be in the front of the group in the actual battle. You also have wicked willpower and control. What you're going to learn is sword skills and archery skills."

"Catherine," Sara took over "you're a guardian. You have magic, but you can only use it in defence of yourself or someone else. You can't directly attack someone for no reason. It means that you're a protector. Guardians are usually gentle and kind, but they have spunk."

"Nick, you're shapeshifter. You can't shoot magic at anybody or make spells, but you can change shape from human to any kind of animal. These skills are useful in a battle to blend in and use your physical skills to take down the enemy."

"And finally, Greg. You have one of the rarest powers of all. You are a healer. You can use your magic to heal, and sometimes to defend, but you should usually stick by a guardian." Ammariah gestured to Catherine

"Now," Mato took over, stepping forward "We've brought out your raw skill, but that needs to be shaped into talent. That's what we're here for. Each of you will be taught your skill. This will happen every day."

"What about my daughter?" Catherine asked, worried about Lindsay.

"It's been taken care of." Ammariah assured her, before turningto the entire group "All of your other lives have been taken care of. Your position as criminalists are secure, but taken care of." A chorus of thank you's followed

"Alright everyone. This might sound wierd, but your double life begins now, and it's here to stay. Learn to love it." Sara grinned at the scared look on each of their faces "It's not as bad as it sounds. I've been hiding it since I was fifteen, and nobody's ever found out."

"If you say so, Sara." Greg shrugged, seemingly the most comfortable with the sudden change in his life

"Good. Now, Warrick, you're going with Ammariah right now. Greg, you're going with Mato and Grissom. Catherine, you're with Jordan and Nick, you're going to have to wait."

"Why?" he asked

"Because none of us are shapehifters. I know one, and I'll get her over here as soon as I can. Until then, you're going to have to hang out with me and Rhea here."

"Okay." Nick shrugged as the others left with their respective teachers "What are you going to do, phone her?"

"We don't have phones here, Nicky." Sara laughed "In these realms, we contact one another using our minds. You'll learn how, don't worry."

"Okay. So what does she say?"

"She says she'll be here in..." Sara was cut short when a silver wolf stalked into the clearing she and Nick were standing in "Oh shit."

"What's the matter? Can't you talk to wolves or something?"

"Not really. Some are bloodthirsty creatures. You can never really tell." Sara drew her sword and held it in front of her "Just stay behind me." she murmured. The wolf growled, and then turned into a large swirl of magic. A moment later, another brunette was standing in front of Sara.

"Don't hurt me." the new woman joked

"Felina." Sara sighed "You scared me for a second there. Nick, this is Felina. She's my shapeshifter friend that I was telling you about."

"Hi. You must be Nick." Felina took Nick's hand and shook it "Soon, you'll be able to do that. It's a hoot when you want to prank somebody."

"Felina has an...odd sense of humour." Sara explained

"What's with calling me Felina?" the woman asked before turning to Nick "I prefer Lina to anything."

"Lina it is." he had gotten past the overall shock of seeing a wolf turn into a human, and was being his normal, friendly self

"Want to get started?"

"Why not. You sure it's not too hard."

"Naw." she smiled and shook her head "Come on. I'll show you." the two walked off, leaving Sara and Rhea alone.

"So, now what?" Rhea asked

"I don't know."

"Want me to help you train?"

"Why should I trust you?" Sara looked the blonde up and down once

"Because I'm not going to do anything. I'm not evil or anything."

"Really, because I'm getting the vibe that you're slightly demonic." Rhea rolled her eyes

"Being banished for something you didn't do will do that to you." Sara grinned despite herself

"But it's more than that, isn't it?"

"Yeah." Rhea sighed "My mother was a half demon. I'm part demon myself, but not the bloodthirsty part, just the..."

"Wickedly determined and stubborn part?" Sara filled in, having been called stubborn many times herself.

"Exactly. It makes fitting in hard since supposedly I radiate bad vibes." Rhea smiled wickedly "I've grown used to it." Sara laughed lightly

"Well, you're very jaded."

"I try. So, you want me to practice with you or not."

"Why not." Sara shrugged "If you try anything stupid..."

"I won't. Relax." she flexed her fingers "I'm out of practice, so go easy on me." she shot a wave of hot pink and electric blue at Sara. She countered with her own blue-green waves and smiled.

"Crazy colours."

"I know. Don't you love them?" Rhea shot a winding double stream of magic at Sara, who shot a triple stream back

"Ha. Is that all you got?" she laughed and Rhea growled

"Oh, you asked for it."

* * *

Sara and Rhea both walked into the hut an hour after everyone else. They collapsed on Sara's equivalent of a couch together. Both looked tired but happy.

"What were you doing?" Jordan asked

"Rhea helped me practice." Sara grinned "She's good."

"Sara's better." Rhea grinned

"If you think I'm good, you should see Jordan."

"What level are you?" Rhea turned to Jordan

"Nine." she replied

"Well, you must be good." Jordan laughed

"Thanks."

"You're..." they were interrupted when a group of black creatures with red wings flew into the room

"Oh shit." Sara's eyes widened

"Are those..." Jordan started, and Sara nodded

"Demons."

A/N: And that's it for this chapter. Please R&R to let me know what you think. Thanks for reading! Oh, and thanks for taking the time to read these random Author's Notes. I don't know why I put them in becuase I rarely have much to say, but...yeah. Thanks!


	5. Chapter 5

"What are demons?" Greg asked

"Now is NOT the time." Sara snapped, not even trying to keep her temper in place "Stay behind…" she was cut off when a demon flew at her. She shot a blue-green wave at it, and it dropped, dissolving into a cloud of dust.

"Demons are pure evil." Jordan explained, moving up beside Sara to help ward away the creatures "They're made of pure black magic, and run off fear and bloodshed."

"Get out to the front." Ammariah suggested "Then they can't corner us."

"No, stay here." Mato called over "That way we can take them out as they come in the door."

"What do they want?" Sara asked "We haven't done anything to them."

"I don't know." Jordan dropped to the floor, narrowly missing the demon's large talons.

"How many are there?" Ammariah killed two demons, but it didn't do any good. They kept rushing in the door like a giant wave.

"Guys, make a wall." Mato called, starting to mask the door in a shimmering cover that quickly turned invisible. A demon flew through it, but dissapeared in the same dust as before. Catching on, Sara, Jordan, Ammariah and Rhea all shot their magic at the wall and strengthened it. Each demon that flew through couldn't see the wall, but instantly dissolved afterwards.

As the demons kept coming, it was clear that the wall was weakening. A few moments later, Rhea broke off, and eventually, do did the rest of them. The good news was that the demons were almost all dead, and they were able to get rid of the remaining creatures without much difficulty. The last demon, they took and pinned to the floor. It took a combination of all their magic to keep it down.

"Why are you here?" Sara growled

"We are here for no reason." It screeched. Demons' voices were loud and piercing, and everyone in the room flinched.

"Try answering that again." Sara placed a finger on the demon's forehead. It glowed green-blue for a moment, and the demon screamed.

"We are here for her." their gazes all followed his bony black finger straight to Rhea

"No." she whispered "Not now. Not after everything you've done. Not after I've gotten a second chance."

"Yes." he screamed again. This time, his tone was different. It seemed to reach into the souls of everyone in the room and tear them in half. Catherine stepped backward and tripped, falling into Warrick's shaky arms. Greg and Nick were both leaning against the wall, as was Mato. Grissom backed away from the sound, and even Sara and Jordan were leaning against eachother. Ammariah had just evaporated into a fine green mist. In fear, Sara and Jordan both shot waves of magic at the demon. It exploded into a cloud of dust and fell to the floor.

"What's..." Mato didn't have a chance to finish, because Rhea, in a sudden burst of power, ripped a hole in the magical wall covering the door, and ran.

"What the hell?" Sara walked out to the front, Jordan close behind

"Where did she go?" Nick asked

"I don't know." Jordan shrugged

"We have to follow her." She had just met the other woman, but Sara felt close to Rhea, and didn't want to see her get hurt.

"She's right, you know." Even though Jordan and Rhea didn't know one another too well, there was something about the blonde that Jordan couldn't help but like.

"Come on." They tore off after Rhea, but since she had a head start, it took over half an hour to find her. When they did, she was sitting on a tree branch crying.

"Hey, Rhea?" Sara called up "Are you okay."

"What does it look like stupid?" she yelled "No I'm not alright."

"You wanna come down?" Jordan asked

"No, actually. If you want to talk, you can come up." Sara sighed

"Fine." she swung up to the branch and leaned against the trunk "What was the deal with the demon?"

"Nothing." Rhea mumbled "Just an ordinary demon, I guess. They're all bastards."

"But it wasn't nothing, was it?" Jordan took a branch slightly higher up than Sara and Rhea

"No." Rhea sighed "I'm a partial demon myself. They've been after me for my whole life. They want me to become a full demon, but I want to be a mage. After I got banished, they were employed by the king to capture me when I re-entered the magical realms."

"So they're going to keep chasing you?"

"Pretty much." she sighed again and jumped to the ground, Sara and Jordan close behind. They both shared a look, having a complete conversation with their eyes

"This means we're going to have to run." Sara said

"Run where?"

"From the demons."

"Guys," Rhea started "I'll just turn myself in."

"Why in hell would you do that. You know what they'd do to you if you did?" Jordan asked

"If I don't, then they'll follow me and eventually kill you too."

"If I had a dollar for every time we've almost been killed." Sara laughed "We'll be fine."

"Sara, Jordan, I don't want anything to happen because of me."

"It won't." they both said at once

"The demons have already killed someone because of me. I don't want to see it happen again."

"What happened?" they all started walking back as Rhea told the story

"I was only twelve. The demons had just found out about me. The first thing they did was kill my father. He was called to the court of the king by the demons. They intercepted him on his way there." she paused to catch her breath, since she had broken into tears "They took him prisoner. He knew that I was part demon, and he knew that the demons wanted me. They tortured him so he would tell him where my mother and I were hiding. He never told, and eventually died in captivity."

"Why do they want you so badly? Aren't there other demonic beings in these realms?"

"Of course, but I was also learning to be a mage. They figured that if I had the skills of a mage and the mind of a demon, that I could defend them against others. They approached me peacefully, but I refused, and I ran. They found me and my mother a few years later, and killed her. I got away, and I've been hiding from them and fighting them my whole life."

"I'm sorry Rhea." the three of them were silent for the rest of the way back, each lost in their own thoughts.

"Guys!" Sara called to the rest of the group, who were assembled in the front "We're leaving."

"May I ask why?" Ammariah asked

"Because I'm being chased by demons and Sara and Jordan won't let me turn myself in." Rhea shrugged

"Are you sure about this?" Mato walked over to Sara and spoke quietly

"I'm positive." she switched her language to Kantan "Even though it's more dangerous, I can't help but see myself in her. I have to do this." Mato nodded

"Alright. Come on everyone. I know a place where we can hide."

* * *

"How long have we been walking?" Greg had lost track of time, as had the rest of the group

"Two days." Sara was walking wearily, dragging her sword. They hadn't run into anything, but Ammariah was practically forcing her to keep it out.

"When are we going to stop?"

"Soon." Mato promised the group

"Do you even know where we're going?"

"Of course. We'll be there..." he trailed off and smiled "Right now." They all looked cautiously at a large cave mouth. Walking inside, it was a bit damp, but turned abruptly to the left, making the inside of the cave invisible from the openeing.

"What in the..." the inside was lined with a sparkling black stone that confused Grissom

"It's onyx." Sara explained "It blocks out tracking spells."

"Ah." he still didn't fully understand

"Come on." Mato walked to the back of the cave "I'm sure you're all tired."

"Tired is an understatement." Greg moaned

"Yeah." Nick sat down and leaned against the back wall "I'm beat."

"Mmhmm." Sara leaned against the wall and sunk down it "I'm going to bed."

"Me too." Jordan lay down and yawned "See you in the morning."

* * *

The next day, Sara woke up when the sun was still sunken beneath the horizon. She stood up quietly, trying not to wake anyone else. Walking out of the cave, Sara found Rhea. She looked different. When they had first met, she had been wearing a pink and blue dress and had strawberry blonde hair. Now, she was dressed in an almost skin tight black and red dress, with a long sword hanging from her waist. Her hair was a dark, dark brown that looked black in certain lights. It was streaked with bright, almost blood red. The magic waves flowing from her hands were also black, with streams of red winding their way through. Her hair still just reached her hips, but the streaks of colour made it look longer and more sinister.

"Are you going to stand and stare all day or are you going to come ove here and talk?" Rhea asked, never even taking her eyes off the tree she was slowly carving to pieces

"What in the world...?" Sara had never seen anything like what she was seeing at that moment "What happened to you?"

"This is my demon side." she explained, stopping the flow of magic and turning to Sara "I'm in full control of it at all times, but it's handy. The magic is thousand times more destructive than ordinary magic, and it's so much harder to handle. Because I'm a mage, I can control it and take it to new levels of destruction using my skills. That's why they want me so badly. I can do things that no other demons can. I figured since they're going to be hunting me, I'd better brush up on these skills of mine. Demonic magic can destroy a demon ten times faster than normal. If they want me as badly as they did before I was banished, we're going to need all the help we can get."

"Ah." Sara nodded in understanding "So, is that pure black magic."

"Yes." Rhea's face was solemn. They both knew that the ability to use black magic was a power that was both a blessing and a curse "I can teach you if you'd like. It's not hard to learn, just hard to perfect."

"I'll think it over." Sara ran a hand through her hair "I've already got enough on my plate as it is, but it seems like a worthwhile skill."

"Fair enough." Rhea shrugged and turned her attention back to the tree "Oh, by the way. Never thanked you for what you did."

"What did I do?"

"You didn't leave me behind. That's something special in my books. Thank you."

"It wasn't a problem." Sara shrugged "Besides, if we're going to do this thing right, we're gonig to need way more people. You're a dent in that number."

"Oh whatever." Rhea smiled "It's more than that."

"Okay, how the hell do you know that? Jordan's the only one that can read me that well and it took her a while to learn it."

"I'm a natural people reader. It's too easy to tell when someone's lying. Now, it's practically second nature to look."

"That's so wierd." Sara mumbled to herself

--

A while later, Rhea and Sara were joined by Grissom and Mato. They were all sitting on rocks and stumps in front of the cave, when a blinding green light started shining before them. A young man walked out of the light. He had firey orange hair that ended just below his ears and bright green and orange eyes. The magic glowing at his fingertips was the same blend of bright colours, and it was aimed straight at the group.

"Don't." Rhea gestured to his hands, which stopped glowing "They're ligit."

"Who's he?" Grissom asked Sara

"I don't know." she muttered "I've never seen him before."

"What do you want?" Mato demanded somewhat hostily. He had had enough surprises for a while.

"I'm here for her."

"Lay off it." Rhea sounded more annoyed than she did scared "You're not my protector. I can handle myself."

"Oh really," the man switched to the language used only in Oreatno. Sara spoke it almost fluently, as she did all the realms' languages, and was able to understand them. Mato also spoke Oretnan, and looked at Sara quizzically.

"When was the last time you used your magic?" the man was asking

"Recently, against demons." she sounded proud of herself

"See!" he raised his voice to emphasize his point "You've been here less than a week, and already you're attracting attention-and NOT the good kind."

"Relax. I can protect myself, and I'm in a group with the others."

"Who are they, Rhea. Do you even know? How do you know they're not the king's guards in disguise and they're waiting to capture you and take you away?"

"I just know, okay? Besides," she lowered her voice "If anything should go wrong, I can use them to my advantage. Just trust me on this, okay?"

"Alright, but I'm staying for a few days."

"Did you hear that?" Sara asked Mato. She was speaking in an ancient tongue that rarely anyone spoke. Mato had taught it to her for situations-much like this- where she needed to speak to him or a divine being privately.

"I did. Use us for what? Is she planning something?"

"I don't know."

"We might have to ditch her." Sara shook her head

"It wouldn't do any good. She could just tell others our location, if she wants us caught for something. It's safer to keep her with us, that way we can keep tabs on her at all times."

"Agreed." he nodded and turned back to the other three, who were staring at them in confusion.

"Sorry about that. Sara, Gil and Mato, this is Dwight. He's my cousin." Rhea said in english

"Pleased to meet you." he shook each one of their hands.

"That magic, I've rarely seen it." Mato said curiously "What are you?"

"I'm an Alchemist mainly, but also an Apothecary. I only have magical skills for defense and travelling purposes, and those aren't strong."

"That's what I saw. It was the alchemy." he nodded

"Yes. I'm one of the foremost alchemists in the realms." Dwight's statement sounded pompus, which gave him an air of being egotistical.

"Good for you." Rhea rolled her eyes.

"What's going on out here?" Jordan walked out, but froze when she saw the newcomer "Oh hell no." she shot a large, strong wave of magic at Dwight.

"Hey!" he deflected the wave "Watch it!"

"Jordan, what the hell?" Sara walked over to her friend, prepared to hold her if she decided to take on their visitor again

"You are an ass!" Jordan yelled

"Why don't you shut up!?" Dwight yelled back

"Shut up both of you!" Sara glared at them "Rhea, take Dwight. Jordan, come here." she turned to Mato and spoke quietly "Watch those two." she pointed to Rhea and Dwight

"What?" her friend hissed after Dwight and Rhea were out of earshot "He deserves to be killed."

"What happened back there?"

"I know him from before. I hate him."

"What'd he do?"

"It was when I was a kid."

_Flash_

"Come ON!" a young Jordan yelled back to a pair of boys "You're slowing me down!"

"Sorry." One of them ran up, his green and orange eyes shining "Why are you so eager to get assessed anyways?" He was referring to the assesment that all mages got early in life to determine how they handled their skills

"Because," she slowed her pace to match his "after this, I move up one level!"

"No way!" the second boy caught up

"Yeah. I can't wait! I know I'll be good. I've been practicing for this for months."

"Well, this is one of my first tests." the boy with the green-orange eyes said

"Really?"

"Yeah. I'm going to ace this." he stopped by the stone wall around a large, solid building "Watch." he shot a large wave of magic at a rock

"What are you doing, Dwight?"

"I'm turning it into a gem, it's..." he cut off as the rock flew backward, creating a large hole in the wall behind "Oops."

"Oh boy." Jordan muttered. The other boy's eyes were wide as a tall, white haired man walked out of the gate

"Who did this?" The man's booming voice demanded. Nobody said anything "Fine, I'll just use a truth spell on you."

"Wait!" before the man could summon the spell, Dwight held up a hand "I'll tell you."

"Good." Dwight walked over to the man and whispered something in his ear. They both turned to the pair of children "Jordan," the older man started "I'm very dissapointed in you. I wouldn't have expected my most promising student to use her magic for this purpose."

"But...it..." Jordan protested "I...didn't..."

"I don't want another word from you, Jordan. Go home. I'll talk to you later."

"But, I was supposed to get assessed today!"

"You're lucky I don't remove your powers totally, if this is the way you're going to use the skills I teach you." he said "Now, go home. You're on probation."

_End flash_

"It took me over two years to get off probation, and another four to be assessed. I fell so far behind because of him."

"Jordan, it was one assessment!" Sara sighed, exasperated

"He betrayed me, and that's that."

"Just be civil to the guy. We do NOT need more trouble."

"He's an ass!"

"Okay. Just try to be nice."

"Fine." Jordan growled "But don't expect me to like it."

"You don't like anything."

"Oh, whatever." she rolled her eyes

--

Dwight watched the conversation with heightened interest. He could hear everything they were saying, and was enjoying every word. If things went the way he planned, they would play right into his hands.

* * *

A/N: And thus ends another chapter. Hope you liked it, and I hope to hear from you Thanks for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

A/N : Thanks to everyone who reviewed ch5

* * *

"We should keep moving." Sara said to Mato. The whole group was seated outside the cave. Ammariah hadn't returned, but it was only a matter of time before she did, and she would have expected them to be ready.

"Why? There's a possibility that the demons are tracking us every time we're outside this cave."

"Demons are lazy. They'll just wait until they find us again, then try the same thing they did back at the hut."

"Even so..." Sara shook her head

"We're not a group of three any more. There are..." she did a quick count "10 of us, and when Ammariah comes back, that'll be 11. You can't seriously believe that we'll stay hidden."

"I see your point. We'll move at night."

"Good."

"You're turning into quite the leader." he smiled wryly

"Yeah, I'm stealing your thunder."

"You'll need to. I'm not the prophecy fulfiller."

"Ugh. Stop saying that. It's hard enough to think of what we're going to have to do. I don't need the title too."

"Ooh touchy." he laughed "I'll tell everyone about the move."

"I can do it."

"No, you go practice with Jordan. She looks like she wants to blow someone's head off. Go tire her out."

"Alright." Sara started to walk away

"And take Rhea with you." Mato said quietly so only she could hear "I don't want her and that Dwight guy together for too long. Who knows what they're planning."

"Agreed." she nodded "We're going to have enough trouble as it is."

"I still think that we should do something about them."

"Like what? Kill them?"

"I'm not saying that, but getting rid of them would take a load off."

"I know, but seriously, traces of us will be all over them. The entire idea of moving is to stay under the radar."

"It was just a suggestion." he raised two hands in mock surrender "I'll go figure out what to keep that Dwight guy busy with."

"Good. Watch him closely. I trust Rhea more than I trust him."

"You're the one with the good instincts." Mato shrugged

"Some days more than others." she smiled "I'll get Jordan and Rhea."

* * *

"It's called shooting blank for a reason, Jordan." Sara shot, ducking to avoid the powerful wave her friend sent flying at her "If I have to die in this realm, I'd rather die in battle, not practice."

"Sorry." Jordan tried to hide her smile

"You're not a bit sorry."

"I missed, didn't I?"

"Yeah, but..." Sara laughed "nevermind. Just make sure you don't actually hit me."

"I'll try not to." Jordan shot a small stream of blue grey magic at a tree, carving her name in it "I'm bored. Let's do something."

"Like what?"

"I dunno. Something more interesting than this."

"What's more interesting than this?"

"I don't know, watching grass grow maybe."

"Watching paint dry." Rhea put in

"My sentiments exactly. This is boring. It's not a challenge."

"You want a challenge?" Sara raised her eyebrows "I was holding back because I thought you didn't."

"Well that explains a hell of a lot. Let's use some skills."

"Alright." Rhea said, her eyes flashing with excitment "ready set go." she shot black and red magic at Jordan, who shot a wave of her own back.

"Good job." Jordan rolled her eyes, but the widened when Rhea's magic split in two and snaked away from Jordan's wave, wrapping themselves around Jordan herself

"Whoa!" Sara grinned when the waves had unwrapped from Jordan "Nice move."

"Are we here to talk?" Rhea shot another wave at Sara, who jumped on top of a rock and dissintegrated the wave before it reached her. Jordan shot her magic at Sara and Rhea simultaniously. Rhea shot an open-middled wave at it. The middle closed around Jordan's wave, converting it into the black magic that Rhea was using, making her two times stronger. Sara shot a wave from each hand and they wound around Jordan's magic, making it burst into a cloud of dust and fall to the ground. She then sent a large ball of magic at Jordan, and a fine mist of magic at Rhea. The ball came barreling towards Jordan, who shot another wave at it. Her wave only made a small hole in the ball, so she had to duck to avoid it. Rhea tried to target the mist as a whole, but ended up not being able to. It coated her in a shining wave that would have tightened and killed her if it wasn't blank.

"Guys?" Jordan was standing, seemingly frozen to the ground. Rhea and Sara were too busy fighting eachother to hear her "GUYS!!" she yelled louder. The two turned towards her, and instantly saw what she was seeing. A huge black and red flying wall was coming towards them at an alarmingly fast speed.

"Demons." Rhea breathed

"What do we do?" Sara asked quickly "We're out in the open, and there's three of us and so many of them."

"Just fight them. If we run, they'll only be more interested in us." Rhea replied

"I thought demons were lazy." Jordan pointed out

"Just trust me." Rhea snapped "I'm half demon, just...listen."

"Uh...guys!" Sara said loudly, pointing to the demon wall that was only a few meters away

"You'd better be right." Jordan said tensely, looking sideways at Rhea

All the while, Sara was looking at Rhea, thinking about what she had said to Dwight. Maybe this was their plan, to pick off the group one by one using their demon contacts. She looked at the strong wall of demons flying towards the small but united trio of mages, and thought that if this was Dwight and Rhea's plan to be rid of them, it was a good one and they had no chance.

The first demon came faster than any of them had expected. It was big and fierce and coming right for Sara. For a moment, she thought that it was the end, but the demon burst into mist in front of her. Rhea was looking at her funny.

"Be alert." she reminded "They have no mercy."

"Yeah." Sara shook her head, shooting a wave of her magic at two demons who were coming towards her. She glanced towards Jordan who was shooting small balls of magic at the demons one by one. Rhea was using a large, strong wall of magic to take out at least ten demons at once. It was very clear that Rhea's black magic was more effective than either Sara or Jordan's, so they moved to flank Rhea and took out the demons that she missed, and others that were coming towards all three of them. One flew at Jordan, who ducked. Instead, it came pelting towards Sara, who was busy with another demon.

"Sar!" Jordan yelled at her. Sara turned around and saw the demon, she darted to one side, but it's large talons ripped down her arm. She screamed and dropped, a demon wound being ten times more painful than any other. Two more demons came rushing towards her, ready to mob her. Jordan shot them both. Sara pushed herself up, blood dripping from her wound.

"Thanks." she said quickly

"You okay?"

"I'll be fine." Jordan nodded and turned her attention back to the demons. The number was slowly getting smaller, but the sight was still overwhelming

"How many are there?" Sara called over to Rhea, who had been silent but seemed the most in control of the situation

"I don't know. We're picking them off but there are still so many."

"Are you sure we can't run?"

"We can, but it wouldn't do anything. It'd just tire us out."

"Okay. How long until..."

"I don't know!" Rhea snapped "Just stop talking and fight." Sara glared at the other woman but kept her mouth shut.

"What do we do?" Jordan yelled "We're all getting tired." It was true. Sara's cut arm was crossed over her strong arm, the only thing keeping it from dropping. Rhea was still strong, but her black magic was flickering slowly back to regular magic. Jordan just wanted to sink down on the ground and close her eyes, but she knew that wasn't going to happen.

"Okay," Rhea addressed both of them "Dig deep inside you an channel all the power you have. All your energy, even if it's not magic. It'll make you stronger."

Sara kept her eyes open, but only saw the battle with a small part of her brain. The rest was searching for any little bit of energy that she could use for the fight. The moment she channeled it all, her wave became stronger and bigger. A small thread of black shot through it, taking out 6 demons at once.

"Nice." Rhea called back "You just used black magic."

"No kidding?" Sara was out of breath but loving the adrenaline that was rushing through her veins "It is useful."

"What'd I say!?" Rhea laughed, as if the battle wasn't happening.

"I..." Jordan stopped speaking and screamed as a demon flew at her feet, knocking her to the ground. It landed on top of her and raised a hand to tear away her skin. Sara stepped forward and shot a wave of strong magic towards it, but the wave wore out before it reached its target. Confused, Sara stepped closer and tried again, but the same thing happened. The demon screeched, and another came over, flying into Sara so she would fall to the ground. It began to tear at her back as well.

"Rhea! Help!" Sara called. Rhea didn't look at back, but shot a wave of magic at the demon, who exploded. Sara stood up, staggering, and gave Jordan her hand. The other brunette took it, and stood up, swaying before she straightened herself out.

"Thanks." she said breathlessely. There was blood running down her back, and she was favouring her left leg, but she put on a strong face and kept shooting demons.

By that time, the creatures realized that they were losing, so the demons that weren't being killed started to peel away from the group and leave. There were eventually only a few demons left, and Rhea and Jordan each took a small group and killed them. The last two demons flew away, but Rhea shot two balls of black magic after them and killed them in the air. Sara kept trying to help, but each time she tried to use her magic, it would die before it it its target.

"Are you two okay?" Rhea asked Jordan and Sara as they started walking to the cave to warn the others

"Fine." they answered at the same time, in the same pain filled voices. Rhea shook her head knowingly

"I bet you are."

"Let's just get going." Jordan looped an arm lightly around Sara's shoulder to take some of the weight off her ankle, and Sara winced.

"What do they want?" Sara asked wearily

"I don't know." Rhea said, briefly looking back "But they want it more than before and they're not going to stop until they get it."

* * *

A/N: Sorry that this chapter is so short, but I had to cut it here. Hope you liked it. Please R&R. Thanks!


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Thanks to all who reviewed chapter six!

"Hey Sara!" Mato called when the three women came into the clearing. He was turned towards a tall woman with light brown hair who had a dark blue and black tattoo starting at her shoulder and snaking down her left arm to her hand "Look who I found."

"Hey." Sara said to the woman, her voice tense with pain

"What's wrong with you?" the woman asked

"Demons." Sara replied shortly

"Turn around." Sara did without speaking and the woman lay a hand over her wounds, letting a pulse of pink-silver magic flow into it. Sara flinched but said nothing, and a moment later there were only scars where her wound had been.

"Do me next." The woman walked over to Jordan and did the same thing. When she was done, Jordan rolled her ankle around and grinned "Thanks."

"No prob." the woman smiled back

"Who's she?" Rhea asked

"My name is Arana." the woman said "I'm Mato's sister."

"I got her over here to train Greg. She's a healer." Mato explained

"You couldn't've showed up at a better time."

"I try." she grinned "And call me Ara. I like it better." As the two women were talking, Jordan walked over to Mato

"I need to talk to you alone." she whispered

"Why?" he looked at her, confused

"Just follow me." she pulled him behind the cave

"What's going on?" he asked "Something wrong?"

"Not with me." she took a deep breath "With Sara."

"What do you mean?" his expression was instantly flooded with concern

"When we were fighting these demons, she kept trying to use her magic, but it died before it reached the targets."

"That is a problem." Mato ran a hand through his hair "I can't evaluate magical problems, but Ammariah can. I'll get her over here and see what she can do."

"Thanks." Jordan looked a lot more relaxed "I know she wouldn't tell you herself, but I wanted to make sure everything was okay."

"You did the right thing." he said "There's a lot riding on her actions, so she has to be in top form."

"Alright." Jordan nodded "I'm going to rest until it's dark, then we need to move. It's not safe over here anymore."

"I know. These stupid demons must want Rhea pretty badly to keep chasing her."

"She's an amazing mage." Jordan admitted "I saw her today. It's like she never runs out of energy or magic or anything."

"That can be a good thing and a bad thing."

"What do you mean?"

"Hasn't Sara told you about what we heard?" Mato looked surprised. Usually Jordan and Sara shared everything

"No. We haven't really had much of a chance to talk about much."

"Well, she was talking to Dwight and they said something about using us."

"For what?"

"We don't know, but since she's half demon and he's..."

"I always knew Dwight was a scumbag."

"Just don't mention any of this to Sara." he said quickly "She might have kept it to herself for a reason."

"I don't like this, Mato." Jordan's eyes gave away how uneasy she was "Two of the people we're travelling with might be plotting against us, and now Sara and I both have secrets from eachother."

"I know, I know. It's just temporary until we can get things running smoothly."

"Fine." Jordan sighed "Just...get Ammariah over here soon. If anyone can deal with this stuff, it's her."

"I agree. I'll get her tomorrow after we find somewhere else to hide."

* * *

That evening, the group started to move. Sara, Jordan and Rhea were heading the group, Catherine, Warrick, Nick, Grissom and Greg were flanking them, and Mato, Dwight and Ara were behind the team. Felina had changed to the shape of a snow leopard, sticking out like a sore thumb in the lush green forest, but bounding ahead of the group and leaping on top of rocks to keep a look out. Greg had kept talking until Sara had snapped at him and told him that he'd get them all caught. The pressure of having non-working magic and having to head a group of rebels was starting to take a toll on her, and it was being reflected in her attitude.

Felina led them to a small shelter in the hollowed out trunk of a large tree just as the sun was beginning to break above the horizon. Nick immediately left to train with Felina, and the rest of the men left with Mato. Rhea stayed with Sara, Jordan, Catherine and Ara. Jordan had sunk down on the ground, using a mossy rock as a pillow and falling asleep. Catherine had started talking to Ara, and Sara was leaning against a tree, her eyes closed, thinking. Even through her closed eyes, Sara could clearly see the flash of magic in front of her. She opened her eyes, and saw Ammariah standing in front of her.

"Ammariah." she breathed a sigh of relief "I wasn't sure who you were."

"You and I need to talk." the goddess didn't bother with plesantries, but grabbed Sara by the arm and towed her towards a gap in the trees

"What's this about!?" Sara yanked her arm out of Ammariah's grasp "I haven't done anything wrong!"

"I know. This is about the demon battle."

"What about it?"

"You're magic isn't working. Why?"

"I don't know." Sara's voice was a mix of fear, confusion and anger "I tried to use it, but it just died."

"We're getting to the bottom of this right now." Ammariah had started speaking like a normal mortal, and was easier to understand, but Sara was still confused

"What do mean? How are you going to figure this out."

"Easy. Shoot me."

"Just like that? Just send a stream of magic your way?"

"Yes." Sara shrugged at the goddess' response and shot a large blank wave towards her. She dissolved it quickly and stared at Sara

"If you were using blank magic against the demons, then I've taught you nothing. Use regular magic."

"I don't want to hurt you."

"That's your problem. You _can't_ hurt me because your magic_ isn't working_." Ammariah reminded her "Now shoot."

"Fine." Sara shot a strong wave of magic at her mentor, but it died long before it would have been a threat

"Go again." Ammariah murmured, watching Sara intentley. She shot the same kind of wave, and it died like before.

"Again?" Sara asked

"No. I know what is wrong." she smiled "It's nothing bad."

"What is it?"

"You need a ranking test."

"That's it!?" A ranking test was the examination a mage needed to take before they could move up a level. It had to be administered by a divine or a higher up mage.

"Yes. That's it." Ammariah looked almost as relieved as Sara herself "You're reaching for magic that you can't physically use at your level." Each mage level unlocked the type and ferocity of magic that they could use. Low level mages were limited magic that could be used for small spells, where as high level mages and divines could use as much magic as they wanted for any spell

"When can we do it?"

"Now if you'd like." Ammariah replied "I can administer it."

"Now'd be great." Sara said "What do I have to do?"

"Alright. First, I'd like you to make a summoning spell. Summon Metino." Metino was Ammariah's good friend, and also a divine. Gods and Goddesses were the hardest to summon because they had quite a bit to do in a day. If the spell wasn't strong enough, they'd ignore it.

"Mmhmm." Sara was already concentrating. She closed her eyes and blue-green magic swelled around her. The saphire and green stone on her neck was glowing, and a moment later, Metino transported himself to where they were standing

"This had better be good." he growled, looking straight at Sara "Who are you?"

"She's with me." the man turned to see Ammariah

"What's she doing disturbing me from my work?" he demanded "Now with the Gunotans talking about moving, my section is as busy as we've ever been."

"It's a ranking exam." the goddess explained "I needed her to summon a divine."

"Well," the man looked surprised "What level is she now?"

"Seven." Sara answered

"That was a strong summoning spell for a level seven mage. I couldn't have ignored it if I tried."

"Excellent." Ammariah smiled "Now, transport him back."

Sara looked the man up and down before walking over to him. She placed her hands on his shoulders and Ammariah could see a small flow of magic encasing the god. In a second, he vanished. Ammariah stood perfectly still for a whole minute, her eyes closed. When her eyes flew open, they were shining.

"He said that was the best transporting spell he's ever seen a level seven do." Sara smiled

"Keep going. We need to finish this."

"Now we need to work on defensive skillls." without any more warning, Ammariah shot six rapid shots of green magic at Sara, all different strengths, speeds and heights. Sara looked up and down quickly, pinpointing the locations of all six shots. She started to target them individually, but realized that it wasn't going to work. Instead, she made a tall, shining magic wall that, when Ammariah's magic tried to penetrate, closed in on it and converted it to her magic, making her that much stronger.

Seeing her first attempt taken care of, the goddess shot twenty of the same rapid shots. Sara tried the same technique, but before Ammariah's magic hit her net, it combined to make a giant ball that blew through Sara's magic wall. Instead of trying the wall idea again, Sara shot small, fast streams of magic around the ball, and one large one in the centre. Her streams broke throuh the ball, weakening it, so when she shot a final stream at it, it dissintegrated.

Ammariah tried three more techniques, and each time Sara kept destroying them.

"Now...fix this wound." the goddess took a glowing finger and drew it across her arm, splitting the skin behind it. The wound then coated itself in green magic. What Ammariah was doing was protecting her wound, so Sara couldn't easily reach it.

Closing her eyes, Sara visualized what she needed to do. Placing one finger on each side of the magic coating, she allowed her magic to flow onto it, coating it and pressing down on it, slowly being absorbed. When Sara's magic reached through the magic potection to the wound, it split into many fine strands and bound the skin back together.

"I've never seen it done that way." Ammariah examined Sara's handiwork "Most people just get rid of the magic."

"Yeah, but that would've hurt you more, and taken more effort. This is just easier."

"That's...it." Ammiah realized "You're now a level 8." she walked over and placed a hand over Sara's heart and let her magic flow into her student's body. Sara flinched at first, but then stood straight, as itf to meet the magic and take it in that much faster.

"So that was it?" she asked, bewildered

"Yes."

"Seriously!?"

"What is so hard to believe about that?" Ammariah was puzzled at Sara's reaction

"Well...I just thought that was a warm up."

"You could have done more?"

"Way more. That was so simple."

"Then let's try another one." Ammariah mentally called Mato over, and he appeared a moment later

"What's up?" he asked

"We're giving Sara here a ranking exam. She blew through the one from level 7 to level 8, and wants another. Would you care to do the honours?"

"Of course." Mato stepped up to Sara and looked at her "Good luck."

"You'll need it more than me." she grinned

"Alright. Let's start with a defensive." he shot a high energy wave at her, the transformed into a hollow tube and came over top of her, closing her in. It started to shrink, slowly crushing her inside.

"What do you think you're doing!?" Ammariah yelled at him, her eyes flashing as her hands started to glow, as if she wanted to shoot him so much she couldn't control her magic "That's a level 10 spell!"

"I know." Mato grinned wickedly

"She just became a level 8! She can't handle it." she raised her hands, glowing green, and pointed them towards the tunnell, but before she could send anything towards it, the tunnel dropped to the ground in a fine shimmering orange-yellow mist.

"See?" Mato smiled smugly at the worried goddess "I knew she could do it."

"How did you..." Sara grinned

"I wound my magic around myself. When Mato's touched it, it send out waves of electricity and terminated Mato's power temporariy. If I put enough strength behind it, I could pretty much permanently terminate my oponent's power."

"I'd never thought of that." Now it was Mato's turn to look surprised "Let me try something." He sent a glittering gold wave towards Sara. Metalic coloured waves were the strongest and hardest to counter. Sara shot three waves of magic at it, and then her eyes widened as she realized that it was a spell well beyond anything she'd ever seen. Without realizing what she was doing, she let her mind go blank and closed her eyes. Waiting for the impact of the destructive wave, she stood ramrod straight. When it didn't come, she cracked open an eye and saw Ammariah and Mato, who were both pale as sheets.

"What? Am I dead?" she asked fearfully "Are we all dead?"

"N-n-no." Mato stammered "That was..."

"You were..." Ammariah cut in, but ran out of words

"What happened?" Sara asked, now confused

"It went right through you."

"You made yourself dissolve into the air." Ammariah explained, finding her voice

"When the wave passed through you, and you dissolved, I thought that I was wrong to send something so powerful towards you."

"But..." she asked, looking at her two teachers

"You were so in tune with yourself." Ammariah said "You just emptied your mind and gave yourself up to your magic."

"Usually," Mato took over "Mages who do that end up dying because nothing happens, but you were so in tune, your magical side just took over the thinking for you."

"How about that." Sara smiled "I'm unique."

"I don't think you get it." Mato said, looking to Ammariah, his eyes wide

"Get what?"

"Sara, that...that was a level 13 qualifying spell. You're now a level 13." the forest suddely grew silent. It was almost as if every plant, animal and rock was holding its breath, waiting to see what she said

"So you mean, I just defended myself against a level 13 wave from a level 17 mage?"

"Yes." Mato replied "You do realize that now you're a level 13, the only thing standing between you and becoming a level 17 are tests to see how well you defend yourself against multiple enemies, and how well you protect multiple people."

"Th-that's it?" she couldn't believe it "So I just went from a level 6 to a level 13 in one day."

"In a couple of hours." Ammariah corrected "You really are someone special." she walked over to the brunette and placed her hand once again over her heart. Mato walked over and placed his hand on top of Ammariah's. Both their magic flowed into her, making her stronger and elevating her levels. Throughout the entire process, her eyes were closed, and when she opened them, the brown in them was gone, and replaced with a shining electric blue base and sparkling bright green flecks that seemed to dance.

"Congratulations." Mato said, proud to have taught her "I'll start training you how to defend and protect multiples and then you can do another status test."

"Sounds good." Sara usuallt felt tired after she had used a lot of magic, but this time she felt as if she were walking on air.

"You truly are the only one mentioned in this prophecy." Ammariah muttered to herself

"Very few people can do that." Mato pointed out, as if he didn't think she knew what it meant.

"I know, Mato. Let's just keep going. We move again tonight."

"I don't see why we have to keep moving." Warrick was never usually one to complain, but moving every night and training to become a warrior was wearing him out "We seemed pretty safe at the cave."

"Yeah, but for how long?" Sara pointed out, keeping her eyes forward. It was almost pitch black on the path in the forest they were walking through and it took concentation not to trip over roots and rocks.

"What do you mean?" Catherine asked

"It has to do with the demons and the motives behind our actions." Rhea explained. Even though she had been with the group for a short time, she had fallen into a leadership position because of her skills with black magic

"I don't understand." Grissom sounded as confused as the rest of the team, though he had grown more confident as his skilld improved.

"You don't need to." Sara said "Just keep up and do what we say. Believe me," she added when they started to protest "we know what's going. Just trust us." Mato nodded in agreeance

"Fine." Nick said, swooping down in the form of an owl and scaring Greg

"Nice." Felina was once again in the shape of a wolf, and was obviously pleased with her student's progress

"Lina, get out of my way." Sara said, half annoyed, half joking as she almost tripped over her friend

"Sorry." the wolf-form jumped out of the way and fell in beside her, staying quiet.

The trip progressed slowly due to the sporadically placed rocks and the un-even terrain, and near the end everyone was starting to tire. Sara was a few feet ahead of everyone else, but they all could sense that something was wrong when she stopped suddenly. She shook her head and stepped forwards, but instantly sprang back, her green-blue glowing hands lighting up the forest.

"Oh shit." an unknown voice said "She's hot." In the magical realms, hot meant that the person was able to use magic for more than healing

"Damn right I am." Sara growled, having had enough "Just turn around and go back the way you came."

"No fucking way." Another person stepped forwards, their face shielded by a hooded cloak

"What do you plan on doing to stand your ground." Sara stepped up to the cloaked stranger, twining a thin stream of magic up her arms, over her shoulders and down to the ground

"Vi... maybe we shouldn't..." said another stranger

"No." said the hooded person "We've come way to far to turn back."

"Take one more step and you won't be able to move, let alone leave. I'd take the chance while it's offered."

"I think I'll take my chances with you." the stranger flicked their hands downward, and their hands lit up with black and violet magic.

"Crap." Sara muttered. Jordan came to stand beside her, hands glowing grey-blue. In response, another stranger came up, unsheathing a sword that shone violet with the reflection of the first stranger's magic. Mato, Rhea and Felina came to stand with Sara and Jordan, but for each person hey brought up, the strangers had one of their own.

_This isn't something I can risk everyone's lives for_ Sara thought to herself

"Guys, fall back." she motioned to everyone. Without having to be asked twice, the entire group moved back as a whole until there was about six feet between them and Sara. The stranger studied Sara for a moment before nodding slightly and motioning with their hand for the rest of the strangers to give them some room.

"So," the stranger started "Are you going to leave, or are you going to fight me."

"I don't start fights." Sara said, struggling to keep her voice level. No matter what she said, she wanted to blast the strange people into oblivion, starting with the hodded one who was their leader

"Then allow me." the stranger blasted a fast moving stream of black-violet magic at Sara.

Sara spun smoothly out of the way of the magic, only to be in the direct path of another stream. Seeing the magic flying towards her on each side, she jumped up on top of a boulder and shot it with magic of her own, the flashes lighting up the pitch black forest. The stranger realized that her large streams were too easy to intercept, and started using small, fast moving bullet-like balls. Sara shot medium sized sphere shaped magic at the stranger, making her opponent's aim shaky and easy to move around. While she was busy with her counter attack, Sara felt a dozen or so needle sharp pains on her arms, back and face. Realizing that a grouping of the violet-black magic had hit her, she growled and shot a net-like wave towards the other mage, who ducked and coated herself with a shining cover. She broke out of Sara's magic and was just about to shoot another wave when a paper thin voice cut the air.

"Vi, stop." instantly, Sara's opponent turned around and faced another cloaked figure

"Rain, what are you talking about. We can't just go back. You know what happened back there."

"I know, but if you get hurt we won't be ableto go anywhere. Let me talk to her."

"I'm coming." the hodded stranger said softly to the peacemaker. The both walked over to Sara, the more recent arrival leaning against Sara's opponent.

"We need to talk to you." The hooded stranger said, her voice clearly female and softer than Sara would have expected

"On two conditions. No magic, and take down the hood." Sara gestured to the woman's cloak

"Agreed." She pulled down the hood and looked at Sara, her expression curious but guarded and no doubt challenging. The mysterious woman had onyx coloured hair with violet streaks that went down just to her shoulderblades. Her eyes were the same black and purple colour as her magic and her hair. They were a cloudy swirl and gave away nothing concerning her abilities

"You too." Sara pointed at the small woman who had ended the fight. She nodded and pulled down her hood to reveal long, almost white light blonde hair. Her eyes were a very pale ice blue that seemed to cut through the darkness, but what startled Sara the most was her skin, which was almost as pale as her hair and had a discreet wavy line that ended in a small swirl that sat just to one side of her left eye. Upon closer inspection, Sara realized that all the strangers bore the same mark, that gave away the most revealing thing about them.

They were Capretian warriors.

* * *

A/N: For those of you who don't remember, there are eight realms: Gunota, Yelago, Posketa, Caprety, Oreatno (Rhea's old realm), Jelina, Madlanna and Kantara(Sara's realm where the story takes place.) And they are all at war against eacother. Just a refresher. Hope you enjoyed the chapter! The next one should be up soon and then you'll find out who the strangers are and whether it's a trap for the rebels (ooh lol.) I always appreciate reviews and I hope that you'll all review! It'd make my day. Thanks for reading!


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Quite a few people asked me when Grissom was going to use his magic, and about Grissom and Sara's relationship. The fighting comes in this chapter, and as for the GSR...Grissom and Sara do like eachother but I can't figure out how to write it in. I have something planned for way later in the story, but as for chapters before that, if anybody has any ideas, would love to hear them. Hope you enjoy chapter 8! Hugest thanks to KTarra who gave me amazing ideas for GSR. She breathed the dynamics back into the story and she deserves a shoutout. Thanks KTarra!!

* * *

As soon as Sara realized that she was facing warriors from a rival realm, her hands instinctively lit up. The woman with the long black hair raised her hands, also glowing, to protect the blonde.

"You said no magic." The blonde pointed out softly. Sara scowled and forced her hands to stop glowing. The other stranger's hands kept glowing, but the blonde lay a hand on her arm and looked her straight in the eye

"Vi, stop it." the black haired woman brought her hands to her side and stopped the flow of magic, though her sinister gaze stayed locked with Sara's

"So you know that we're not from here." she pointed out

"Yes. You're from Caprety?"

"Yes. You can tell by the symbols?" Sara nodded

"Who are you?"

"A group of warriors." the onyx haired woman answered shortly

"You're not." Sara gestured to the woman's hands

"No, I'm a mage. But, so are you."

"Yes, I know that." Sara was struggling not to give anything away that could be used against her, as was the stranger

"What's your name?" the blonde haired woman asked, leaning heavily on the Capretian mage's shoulder

"Magical realm name or mortal name?"

"Both." the other mage answered for her friend. Sara glanced at Mato, who nodded, signifying that she should tell the strangers the truth

"My Kantaran name is Alkina, and my mortal name is Sara."

"My name is Violet." the stranger made her hands glow and nodded to the purple highlights in her magic "This," she gestured to her blonde friend "is Rain. She's my sister."

"She a warrior?" Jordan had walked up beside Sara, and taken over the question

"No. Who are you?"

"This is a friend of mine. She's known as Miriyan here, and Jordan in the mortal realms." Sara explained

"You still haven't answered my question." Jordan said impatiently "If she's not a warrior, what is she?" Violet exchanged a look with one of the men standing behind her before turning to Jordan

"She was a mage like I am, but the Capretian army thought that we would jeapordize their shot at winning the battle against Kantara, so they brought us here and stripped her of her magic. They were going to do the same to me, but I was stronger than them. The men behind us are warriors who believed us instead of the army. They were exiled along with Rain and I." despite her cautiousness, Sara flinched. Being stripped of your magic was a painful and heart-wrenching process. She had almost had hers taken from her by a troll-like creature who had found her in another realm when she was young.

"Where are you going?" Sara asked

"We..." Violet sighed "don't really know. We need to get Rain some help. She's pretty weak."

"I'm fine." Rain mumbled

"You're not." her sister said under her breath before turning back to Sara "If you'll just let us move on..."

"Oh no." Mato stepped up to protest "You're not going anywhere." one of the warriors stepped up, sword unsheathed

"Loneto, back." Violet snapped, and the warrior fell back into the line, looking embarassed "You can let us pass." she said to Mato

"No." he repeated "You're coming with us and staying with us."

"You don't trust us?"

"No." Sara, Jordan and Mato said at once

"What are you guys? Rebels?" Violet joked. When nobody answered, her eyes widened "You're rebels?"

"Well now we have to keep them with us. They know." Mato said to Sara in Kantan

"I know." she replied in the same language

"At least they don't know about the prophecy." he continued

"Now that _would_ be a mess." Sara said, interrupted when Violet cleared her throat

"Rain and I can speak Kantan. Are you talking about the prophecy that talks about the one who will end the war?"

"Fucking hell." Sara muttered to herself. Now rival warriors knew their secret "Yes. That's the one."

"Are you the one?" Rain asked softly

"She is." Ammariah appeared in front of them. Rain, Violet and the other Capretians knelt, but Sara and the rest of her group stayed standing "Stand." the goddess commanded

"Who are you?" Violet was the first to recover and challenge the goddess

"My name is Ammariah. I am a Kantaran goddess and working with this group." she swept her hand across Grissom, Warrick, Catherine, Nick, Greg, Felina, Sara, Jordan, Mato, Ara, Rhea and Dwight

"Are they rebels?"

"They are." she nodded "And now you are to join them."

"No fucking way." the same warrior as before stepped up, bringing up his sword up as if he forgot he was facing a goddess

"Loneto! What part of _get back_ do you not understand!?" Violet sent a strong ball of magic towards him, making him fall backwards "Ignore him." she said to Ammariah "Who are you to say what we're going to do?"

"You have to join the forces now that you know." she explained to the Capretians "Either that or we will kill you."

"Really?" Violet asked sarcastically "And how do you plan on taking on all of us?" she gestured to the group of seven warriors standing behind her

"With them." Sara stepped forward towards Ammariah and motioned to the eleven people behind her "Including Ammariah and myself, that's thirteen people. Are you sure you want that battle to happen?"

"We can take you." Violet growled

"Are you really going to risk that?" Sara raised her eyebrows "You're the only mage."

"So. I have experienced warriors on my side."

"I have five mages, two shapeshifters, a warrior, a protector, two healers and a goddess."

"So be it." Violet shot a thin stream of magic at Sara, and Jordan stepped up to intercept it. Taking that as a sign, the seven warriors who were with her moved behind the two fighting mages towards the other people with them. Catherine, Greg and Ara stepped to one side of the battle since they couldn't do any fighting. Nick changed to the shape of a cheetah and Felina turned into an eagle, both taking on a red headed warrior. Warrick was fighting Loneto, the warrior who had spoken up against Ammariah. Sara looked at him out of the corner of her eye and saw just how well he was doing. He was using a short bladed sword called a Tensente that was preferred by warriors because, even though it wasn't quite as effective as a sword- it was sharp and easy to use. Looking to her other side, Sara saw a Capretian warrior trying to attack Greg and Ara, but Catherine shot a wave of her own magic at him and laughed

"Good try, but...sorry!" she grinned. Sara laughed softly and turned back to the battle. Everyone was fighting with warriors but her. She and Violet were still fighting eachother. They were almost matched for skill and neither one was tiring. Violet was shooting twirling streams of magic at Sara from each side. Sara spun quickly, ducking down in the middle of the turn to touch the ground. She came back up with her hands in front of her and shot three rapid sheets of magic at Violet. The onyx haired mage zigzagged her magic across the sheets and wrecked them. She caught Sara off guard and coated her in a shell of black-purple magic, paralyzing her skills temporarily. She was about to slice through both the shell of magic and Sara, when a stream of brown-blue magic hit her square in the chest, sending her flying backwards. Sara fought her way out of the magic coating and whirled around to face the battle. Now that Violet had been taken down, the rest of the warriors didn't know what to do. They had all broken away from the fighting and stood in a group, looking at their leader. Grissom looked at Sara, surprised. The brown and blue wave had come from his hands, and he stared down at them, as if he was unsure of whether that kind of power had come from him.

Sara suddenlt felt as if her body was electrically charged. It was as if seeing him with so much power made him seem different, more like her even. When she had changed realms, she felt as if her feelings for him had just...vanished. What she felt for him in the mortal realms dissapeared as she realized the weight of the responsability on her shoulders and how different they had become. They had been different before, but the change in their skill levels as mages just seemed to drive them farther apart. There was something else there, she could feel it, but didn't know what. Shrugging it off for the moment, she looked around. The battle had turned in their favour. Even though Violet was already staggering to her feet, her warriors were behind her, and Sara's warriors were on the defensive.

"Okay." Violet panted "You win. We'll go with you."

"Good." Sara nodded "Come on. We're still moving."

* * *

Ammariah pulled Mato to the back of the group. She gestured to Sara and Grissom who were, whether they knew it or not, walking very closely, almost hand in hand. They were talking about something that Grissom seemed to be taking very seriously, and Sara seemed to find funny.

"What do you want?" Mato surveyed the scene as well. Their warriors were surrounding Violet's from all sides, but he also noticed Sara and Grissom "Are you worried about her commitment to the war?"

"It's not that." Ammariah was being unusually open, Gods and Goddesses usually being the most reserved beings.

"Then what is it?" he sounded exasperated "I should be up there with our group."

"Can I trust you?" The Goddess sounded more worried than he had ever heard her, and her eyes were still glued to Sara and Grissom

"You can." he nodded "What is it?"

"There's another prophecy."

"What?"

"Another prophecy. Connected to the first."

"You can't mean that." Mato glanced over at Sara. She had enough on her plate with one prophecy, let alone two.

"I do. It's about the 'one.'"

"What about her?"

"It says that she will be accompanied by an elite team of warriors, but there will be one, closer to her than any other, who will compliment her perfectly and in the end be the one who choses whether she lives or dies."

"You think it's him?" he nodded to Grissom

"It could be. You saw how he saved her, and how powerful he was."

"Ammariah, have you seen him practice? He's not nearly a natural, and he can't even control a simple spell."

"Yes, but remember her at that level? She couldn't control her magic either, and now look at her."

"Let's just say he is...that one. With the black magic...he could be more of a harm to her than a help. The Ruler is half demon you know."

"I know." Ammariah sighed "We need to get Rhea to train him _not_ to use it without giving away the fact that he actually has it in the first place."

"But we still don't know if we can trust her or not."

"We're in quite a position here." she looked at him for a moment and sighed "We can't tell her."

"She needs to know."

"Yes, but not now. This would only make things more complicated for her."

"It would." he agreed "We'll keep it from her, but if at anytime he seems like a threat..."

"Agreed." she nodded "We get him out of here."

* * *

"Are we finally going to stop?" Greg complained after three hours of walking

"Not tired." Sara muttered objectively. The close moment she and Grissom had shared while walking was far behind them, and she was sure that he had no idea what had been going on.

"Sara, you're not the only one here." Nick pointed out, glancing back at the rest of the group, all of whom seemed to be tiring quickly

"That shows how much you know." she whispered to herself, mind on the prophecy

"We're out of danger for now." Mato walked up and murmured to her in Kantan "We can rest for a while."

"Fine." she said shortly, before addressing the entire group "We stop here."

"Right here? In the middle of the forest?" Catherine asked, looking out apprehensively into the trees

"Listen, do you want to stop or not!?" Sara snapped, fed up "Because if you don't..."

"We do!" Greg was already seated on the ground "This is fine."

"Good." Sara stayed standing, but was approached by Grissom, who, even though they were in a different realm, was still speaking for the team

"We'd all like to talk to you." he said "The whole team. Alone."

"Grissom..."

"That wasn't a question, Sara." the coldness of his tone surprised, and somewhat hurt her. She nodded bleakly and turned to Jordan

"You're in charge." she said to her friend "I have to go do stuff."

"Have fun." Jordan grinned wryly "I'll hold down the fort."

"You do that." Sara muttered comically

"Sara?" Grissom pointed towards a gap in the trees where the rest of the team was

"Yeah." she walked over to them, leaning against a tree where she could see them all "What do you want to see me for?"

"We want answers." Catherine said bluntly

"Answers to..."

"Everything. Ever since we've gotten here, you've just told us to do everything you say without question. You've asked us to give up our lives for something that none of us know anything about." she continued "We just want to know that what we're giving up is worth what we're giving it up for."

"I can't give you those answers." Sara said after a beat, her voice laced with regret. She wanted more than anything to go back to her life as a CSI. It all seemed so simple compared to what she was facing. Untrustworthy companions, inter-realm wars and prophecies that she had never heard of.

"Sara, we can't keep listening to you if you don't trust us." Warrick, who was usually laid back, was feeling apprehensive about the whole situation and wanted answers as much as Catherine did. Everyone else nodded, agreeing with his statement, even Grissom.

"It's not that I don't trust you. I work with you on a daily basis and my life constantly depends on the actions of one or more of you. It's just that here I..."

"You don't trust us with your life because you think we're not good enough in this world."

"That's not it!" she raised her voice "I just...can't tell you right now. I don't understand it all myself anyways."

"Is that it, or is that just a story too, like the lies you told us about your life." Nick's voice was full of berayal, even though he thought of Sara as a sister, he couldn't believe she had lied to them.

"I thought Ammariah explained this all to you."

"No." This time the voice was Grissom's

_Oh good lord, not you too._ She thought to herself

"She told us that, in time, you would explain it all to us, and that we should just wait and follow your instructions."

"Why didn't you?" Sara asked somewhat bitterly

"We need to know, Sara. And, until then, we can't help you." Almost as if they were one, the group came together and faced her

"You know, the only reason I didn't send you back was because I thought I could trust you. I guess I was wrong." That having been said, Sara ran. As she was moving deeper into the forest, she heard Catherine's voice softly say

"We thought we could trust you too."

* * *

A/N: The second prophecy idea and the team's talk idea are thanks to KTarra. I just tweaked them a bit to make them a little bit more my own. Thanks again! Hope you liked it. R&R please and let me know what you think of the new angle.


	9. Chapter 9

"Sara, wait!" Grissom called after the fleeing brunette. If she heard him, she didn't show it and kept running. He sighed and with a look at the rest of the team started of after her. After about fifteen minutes, he found her sitting underneath a large tree that resembled a weeping willow. It was somewhat symbolic, because a closer look revealed tears making their way down her face

"What do you want?" she asked bitterly "I think you've said just about enough for one day."

"We didn't mean to hurt you, Sara." He said softly, voice full of regret

"I don't care what you meant or didn't mean to do. I don't want you here."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't want you to be here right now, Grissom. I just…don't think I can look at you without…" she stopped speaking and sighed "It would be nice if you left."

"Leave you or leave the whole rebellion?" his question hung in the air as she considered it

"I can't break you off of the rebellion." She finally said with another sigh "I need more people and I can't be sure that the other realms will leave you unharmed if I do leave you on your own."

"I understand." He moved one step closer to her, but she sprang up and walked away from him. When she stopped, she held up a hand, silently asking him not to move.

"You can't expect me to leave you alone forever, Sara." He pointed out "You just said you needed us for the rebellion. You will have to work with us eventually."

"We have a different role in the war anyways." She said "I probably won't be fighting big battles with you anyways."

"Because you're better than we are?"

"Stop saying that. I've never said that anybody was better than anybody else."

"Stop lying to me, Sara." Grissom raised his voice a notch. There was obviously so much that she wasn't saying and it bothered him that she couldn't be truthful. He had always admired the way she spoke her mind, and felt that if she kept hiding things from him and the team, something about her would be lost. He was attracted to her in this realm and in the mortal realm, but finding out that she had been hiding big things from them tore his feelings away. The physical attraction was still there and still strong, but the trust that they had slowly built had been taken from the relationship.

"Fine!" she had taken his tone as a threat and a challenge, and her hands started lighting up "If that's the way you want to be why don't I just tell you what's really going on!" she was yelling by that point and the glow that had taken over her body was growing stronger "I am stronger than you, Gil. Way stronger. You're not even a level one yet. You haven't had a qualifying test and you probably won't any time soon. You all are very, very juvenile about the whole thing. You don't know how serious this is and what's riding on it. I have enough going on without having to worry about what you think or what the team thinks." She stopped to take a breath, her body almost vibrating with anger

"So, you think that you are better than us."

"Oh for christ's sake Grissom! Get your head out of the clouds. I am better than you whether any of us like it or not. In terms of power and in terms of skill I'm years ahead of you, Catherine, Warrick, Nick or Greg."

"So you're looking at power? Well, if that's the way you feel, when I get back to Vegas I'll just have to be pig headed to you about my position as supervisor. That's a lot more power than what you have."

"You still don't get it, do you?" In the city that we live in and in the realm that we live in I'm one of the most powerful people you'll ever meet. It doesn't matter what realm I'm in. I can still use my magic to the best of my abilities. I could blow the entire city away if I wanted to."

"I thought mages weren't supposed to reveal their skills." He countered smugly

"Thanks to you I've already done that. Nobody would know what hit them anyways. And, if we're still on the topic, let's talk about this realm. In our group, I'm the third strongest person there is."

"Behind who?"

"Mato and Ammariah. Ammariah because she's a goddess and Mato because he's a level 17 mage."

"Didn't you say Jordan was a level 8 mage? You're only a level 7."

"No, actually I'm not."

"So you lied about that too!?" he was getting angrier as she told him more about herself that he didn't know. All the secrets, lies and deception was becoming overwhelming to him.

"No, Grissom I didn't lie about that. I had a qualifying exam and moved up in rank."

"To what?" he asked sarcastically "A level 8?" Sara was surprised that he understood the levels so well, but didn't show it.

"No, Grissom, a level 13." That silenced him

"Oh."

"Yeah. So, thanks for turning everyone against me. That really did me a lot of good." She turned on her heel to leave, but his voice stopped her

"What kind of harm did it do?" he asked "It seems to me as if nothing happened."

"You wouldn't know." She said bitterly

"Wouldn't know what?"

"Just leave it."

"No, Sara."

"Grissom," her voice grew furious "When a high level mage tells you to shut up, you clamp your mouth shut."

"But, you're not a high level mage. Mato is."

"That's what you think."

"Yeah, that's what I think. And I also think that you know I'm right and just resent it."

"You wish I admired you in that way." She shot "I used to, but now…look at you. I can't even look at you without wondering what I saw in you in the first place."

"You don't…" Sara turned to him, her eyes blazing. The green specks were bright, and they were bouncing around her eyes as if they were ready to explode.

"That's enough out of you!" she yelled, hurling four thin streams of magic towards him with all the force she had. For a moment, Grissom was frozen in place, than he remembered that he had magic too and tried to defend himself. Sara's magic blew through his as if it wasn't even there. It hit him hard and pulled him back until he was pinned against a tree. Then, the four streams separated, each binding him to the trunk. One at his ankles, one at his waist, one on his shoulders and one on his mouth. She gave him a dirty look, displaying her betrayal and anger before turning on her heel and starting to walk away. She paused and turned back towards him for a moment.

"That's why you don't try to take on a level 13 mage. Oh, and don't tire yourself out tying to break the spell. It's a little too strong for you." With a somewhat wicked smile, she continued walking back the way they had come, leaving a faint blue green mist in her wake.

* * *

"Hey, where'd you go?" Jordan asked as Sara walked back to where everyone was gathered

"For a walk." Sara replied absently

"Where's Gil?"

"What do you care?" Sara's voice instantly gained an edge "Unless you're on his side."

"Whoa, since when were there sides?"

"Since...I don't know. I just know that there are."

"Sara, I'm not on anyone's side. I just want to know where he is."

"Fine. He's tied to a tree."

"You tied him to a tree?" Jordan raised an eyebrow "Isn't that a little ineffective? He's a mage."

"I tied him to a tree with my magic. He can't break through it."

"So you just left him there!?"

"He deserved it." Sara muttered

"Sara, don't you know what you just did! He knows a lot about the rebellion, and if anyone finds him and frees him..."

"Oh shit!" It was then that her actions hit home "I should go free him, shouldn't I."

"Obviously. Go now." Sara nodded and took off into the forest, following the still settling blue-green mist that her magical rage had left behind. She found Grissom still tied to the trunk of the tree she had left him at.

"I'm so sorry." she said as she undid the spell

"And you're the one talking about betrayal." he shot "That wasn't exactly a trust builder."

"I have a lot on my plate right now, Gris. I'd appreciate you cutting me a little slack."

"And I'd appreciate not being yelled and and being tied to a tree."

"I made a mistake and I know it." she said, looking at the ground "Can we just leave it at that?"

"No, Sara. How can I trust you after that?"

"How about I tell you why I'm so ornery."

"I don't know, Sara."

"I'll tell you anyways. I think you deserve to know. Just...keep it to yourself for a while."

"Why?"

"You'll understand when I tell you." she took a deep breath "There's a propecy about me. I'm going to end the war between the realms, though you already know that. It's getting a lot more complicated with Rhea and Dwight, and now with Violet and her warriors. I need to keep everyone in line, and sort out who we can trust and who we can't and what's going to go on. Then there's the training and the battle preparations and everything else _and_ on top of all that we have to keep moving so the demons can't track us."

"Wow." When he heard it aloud, Grissom realized that Sara did have a lot to think about, and that the team's questions weren't helping "I understand."

"Do you trust me again?" he shook his head and her head fell. She knew it couldn't be that easy, but had hoped it would be

"I trust you a bit more, but not fully. That will come in time, but I think we're okay for now." he turned to walk back to the group, but she stopped him

"Grissom, wait." he stopped and turned in her direction. She was standing by the tree, looking at the ground

"Yes?"

"There's more to it than that. It's not just the battle and things that are getting me."

"What is it?"

"It's...it's you."

"Me? How is it me? We've barely said a word to eachother since I've gotten here."

"That's the problem. It's...us. We were getting closer back in Vegas, but when we got here..."

"I know." he moved back up to her, their fight forgotten "I do miss talking to you."

"So do I...And...it's a little more than that." she admitted

"I know." grissom lowered his voice and moved so they were practically nose to nose "You're an amazing person."

"So are you." she whispered, almost unable to believe that this was actually happening "I'm sorry I pinned you to a tree."

"It's water under the bridge."he pushed a strand of hair out of her face. She couldn't understand what happened. One minute they were fighting, the next they were close. It confused her, but she didn't dare stop him to say so.

"Good. I don't want to fight with you."

"Don't worry. I'll try to understand your situation."

"Thank you." she whispered

"I'll always try...for you." he said softly. When she didn't respond, he pulled a way a bit, worried that he had said too much and that she didn't actually feel the same way "Don't you..."

"Of course I do." she said back, closing the distance between them "I just don't know what to say."

"You don't need to say anything." after a moment of looking into eachother's eyes, Sara moved towards Grissom and rested her head on his chest. After a beat he wrapped his arms around her. They were both silent for a few moments before Sara spoke up.

"I'm really really sorry."

"I forgive you." having said everything that needed to be said, they started back slowly, Grissom's arm around Sara.

* * *

"I'm sure this will be welcome to hear." Sara said to the group, who had assembled in a small gap in the trees. She had been sharing looks with Grissom ever since they had talked, and so far nobody had noticed. She looked at him one more time, and found his eyes meeting hers. He flashed her a small smile and she felt something inside her light up. It was as if hs smile sent an electric charge through her body. It was as if...

"Sara!" Jordan said sharply, snapping her out of her thoughts

"Sorry." she shook her head lightly, trying to clear her thoughts "I was going to say that I know somewhere where we can stay for a while."

"You mean for more than one night?" Greg asked hopefully

"Yes. I have a friend here. Her place is about three hours from here. We can walk there and she'll definitley let us stay."

"What about the demons?" Warrick asked

"She and her husband have...things going on with them. They're closely connected to the high council of the Leader and are almost constantly being tracked. They have more than one place, and they're all coated in onyx."

"And that blocks tracking?" Nick asked

"Bingo." Sara grinned at him "She uses the one I'm thinking of the most, so there's a 90 chance that she'll be there."

"Sounds good." Catherine said. She was still sore about their altercation earlier, but had calmed down a bit and was being somewhat civil.

"When do we leave?" Ara asked. She had been with Rain since they had stopped, as had Greg. He was learning from observation since Ara didn't have any healing that he could do. Even though she was an experienced healer, she was having trouble helping Rain since restoring stolen magic was near to impossible. The blonde woman was growig weaker, and Sara knew they had to move soon before Rain was unable to travel at all.

"We're leaving now. It'll be easier to travel during the day since demons hate light."

"Good thinking." Mato pushed himself up from the ground "Let's move."

The group fell into position with Sara and Jordan at the front and Rhea and Violet behind them. Ara and Greg were both helping Rain walk behind Violet. The team was split in half with Warrick and Nick in front of Violet's warriors, Catherine and Grissom behind them. Felina was flying above them as a hawk and Mato along with Ammariah and Dwight took to the back.

"Why did we leave so soon?" Violet was asking Sara "We could've waited until the sun was at it's highest and had a better chance of not being caught by the demons."

"I just felt that leaving earlier is more useful to us."

"You're doing this because of Rain, aren't you?" Violet switched places with Jordan and spoke so her sister wouldn't hear

"That's not..." Sara started to reply but Violet cut her off

"You think that she's going to start holding us back."

"I didn't say that." Sara paused for a moment "Why am I even defending myself to you."

"Because you're scared and becuase you need someone to trust so you're unconciously opening yourself up to anyone who's willing to listen."

"What the...that's not it." Sara said quickly. In reality it made sense, but she didn't want to believe that she had become easy to read.

"You're not easy to read." Violet said with a small laugh "You're the opposite. You're the hardest person to read I've ever met, but I'm a mind reader. I know what you think every second."

"Yes I know what mind reader means, thank you." Sara snapped "That's very rude you know."

"What? Reading minds?"

"Invading other people's thoughts."

"I can't help it. It just happens with me."

"So people's thoughts just...come to you?" Sara asked sarcastically

"Pretty much. I can block them out or let them in."

"So you choose to let mine in out of everybody's?" Violet shrugged

"You're the most interesting so far. The others are just sort of confused."

"You're crazy." Sara shook her head

"That's not what you really think of me." Violet said, and with a wink, turned on her heel and fell back into her original spot. Jordan stepped up to walk beside Sara and turned to her

"What's the story with her?"

"We now have a mind reader on our hands." Sara said, and seperately thought _And she's really pissing me off with her constant mind surveillance! _Violet snorted a laugh and said

"I'll keep it to myself."

"I bet you will." Sara countered before turning back to Jordan "She's going to get annoying."

_Thanks a lot _Sara heard in her mind. She whirled around to Violet and stared at her, expression full of disbelief

"You can do projections too!?"

"What can I say? I'm talented."

"Oh boy." Sara rolled her eyes at Jordan "This is going to be a long day."

* * *

"Must there be rocks everywhere!?" Greg complained, helping Rain over a large rock in the middle of the path

"Stop whining." Nick said, in the form of a lion "They're not that big."

"Says the big cat." Warrick teased, pulling his bow over the rock "You have an advantage."

"Well being a warrior's your loss." Nick countered. The mood had grown quite relaxed. The team was starting to get used to the constant travelling and their abilities. Nick was coming along the best out of all of them as Felina had been able to teach him on the move. The others were just learning by obsevation, but were getting quite good.

"You guys are a piece of work." Sara laughed, stepping over a tree root "We're almost there anyways. Then we'll re-start your training."

"Alright!" Greg said, excited

"Yeah, we'll whip you into shape." Ara joked

"Oh, I bet." he laughed

"Do you dare doubt me." she mocked, raising her hands and making a pink and silver spiral between them

"I thought you couldn't use magic for destruction."

"I'm related to him." she nodded her head to Mato "I can do whatever I want."

"You're..." he stopped when he ran into Rhea's back "What the hell? Why'd we stop?"

"Don't ask me." Rhea pointed to Sara "Ask her."

Sara was standing, frozen in spot, staring at a medium sized hut in front of them. Her hands were up, and her whole body was glowing, blue green magic flames coming off it like a glittering fire

"Is she on fire?" Warrick asked, unbelieving

"No." Ammariah answered, sounding confused "She's on alert."

"Why?"

"I don't know."

"Sara?" Mato asked the brunette cautiously

"Something's wrong." she muttered, almost too softly to hear "I can feel it."

"I don't feel anything." he said, looking from left to right as if something was going to pop out

"I do though. Something's wrong."

"Like what?"

"I don't know yet!" she snapped "I'm going to go see if she's there."

"I'll come too." Jordan volunteered "Just in case something actually is wrong."

"Thanks." Sara murmured, her mind elsewhere.

The two women walked slowly towards the hut. Sara pushed open the door, took two steps inside then stopped dead. She stood motionless,staring at a woman laying on the floor.

"Oh no." she muttered to herself

The woman was layed out on the floor, arms to her side. Her dark, green-tinted hair was fanned out around her head. She had on a dark maroon dress that ended mid-calf. It had a sash around the middle that held a sword sheath. The sword itself was laying a few feet away. Her hand was stretched forward as if she was reaching for it. Her other hand was laying in a pool of blood, bathing her olive coloured skin in a pool of green liquid. There was a man laying next to her, his pale arm wrapped protectively around her waist, and his hand also laying in the green blood. He had dusty coloured hair and deep blue eyes that stared sightlessely at the door.

"Is...is that your friend?" Jordan asked Sara, gesturing to the woman on the floor

"Uh...yeah that's her." Sara answered softly

"What do you think..."

"Whoa! What happened here!?" Mato cut Jordan off as he walked in. She shot him a sharp look and gestured to Sara, who was still frozen in place, tears freely making their way down her face

"We don't know what happened." Jordan explained quietly

"Alright." Mato replied, voice now soft. He stepped past Sara, brushing a hand along her back as he went, to close the eyes of the man "Do you want to keep moving?"

"We can't just leave them here." Sara spoke up

"Ammariah can dissolve their bodies. They'll be a part of the earth and their spirits will be free."

"Okay." Sara let out a shaky breath "Jordan?"

"I'll go get her." the other brunette didn't need to be asked. She stuck her head out the door and waved Ammariah over. The rest of the group looked at her, questioning expressions on all their faces. They could sense that something wasn't right, but none of them knew what. Even Violet, though she could read minds, looked confused.

"What is it?" Ammariah asked as she entered the hut, then she saw the bodies "Oh."

"Can you dissolve them?" Sara asked softly

"Of course." the goddess rested a hand on Sara's shoulder "I am sorry. The death of a friend is never easy." Sara shrugged

"Just do it and then we need to get going."

"Alright." Ammariah rested a hand on both of the bodies and let a flow of green magic transfer to them. They each dissolved into a fine mist that rose towards the ceiling. For a moment, they could see an image of the woman and the man, hands entwined. They both looked healthy and happy as they rose towards the sky.

"I'm sorry." Sara murmured to the spirits "If I could've saved you..."

"You could have done nothing." Ammriah told her softly "You couldn't have known."

"Mmhmm." Sara sighed "Let's go. We'll need to stay somewhere else."

"Are you sure you don't want to take a break?" Jordan asked, voice full of concern "You don't look too great."

"It's just...draining. Besides, I don't think I could stay here any longer."

"Okay." she nodded, understanding. They all went back to the group, but Sara just kept walking. Jordan motioned for the group to fall in behind her and they continued moving. After only a few minutes, however, a small green-blue shot of magic landed in front of them. The entire group stopped as a whole and looked around. Sara's mind still seemed to be somewhere else, but she was alert and was looking up towards the trees.

"Who's there?" she called, her strong tone obviously forced "We're just passing through. You don't want a fight." They heard something rustle above them, and a girl dropped down from a tree, landing just in front of Sara. She had hair the colour of the night sky and pale olive skin. Her eyes were an interesting mix of green and blue, and matched the fabric of the dress she was wearing. It came just to the edge of both her shoulders, the pale brown undertone offset by threads of dark green and deep blue. She had a sash around her waist and a small dagger tied to it. The short sleeves of the top showed off her thin arms and a tattoo the same colour as her hair. The tattoo was of a leaf in between two flames, showing that she had a connection to the earth and magic. The skirt of the dress came just down to her knees and she was barefoot, but moved as if she didn't know it. Her eyes were fixed on Sara as if she couldn't believe that there was someone in front of her.

"Alkina?" she asked, her voice shaking slightly

"Vera." Sara breathed a sigh of relief "I wondered where you were."

"Were you at my house?"

"Just a second ago." Sara had to force her voice not to waver "And, for the sake of clarity, call me Sara for now."

"Are they..."

"I'm so sorry, Vera." as soon as the girl heard Sara's comment, her whole body started to shake. Sara took a step forward and pulled her close "It's okay. They fought like gods."

"You weren't there." the girl sobbed

"But I know them. No matter what, they fought the best that they could to make sure you stayed safe."

"I don't want them to be gone." she said in between gasping breaths "I want them to still be here."

"Aww Ver, I know you do. I miss them too." Sara rested her head in the girl's hair to hide her tears "But it'll be alright, you'll see."

"I want them to be here."

"They are here, honey. They're all around you in the earth and the air and the trees. And, their spirits will always be with you. I promise."

"You promise?" she started to calm down and lifed her head from Sara's chest.

"Yeah. I do."

"So what's going to happen to me now?" as she said that, her eyes started to well up with tears, and she burried her head in the fabric of Sara's clothes

"You want to stay with me?" the girl nodded "Alright. We need to keep walking to find a place to stay for a little while, but just rest little, okay?" another nod. Sara shrugged, lifted the girl's thin body and continued walking.

"Who's she?" Dwight called,somewhat rudely, from the back

"She's the daughter of my two friends. Her name is Vera and she's twelve years old."

"She doesn't look twelve." Greg muttered the same time as Rhea asked

"What is she?"

"She's part forest sprite, part mage." Sara explained "Her mother is...was a forest sprite and her father was a mage. She got the good qualities of both."

"That's extremely rare." Mato said, turning his attention to Vera "How do you..."

"Mato, shut up." Jordan said sharply "Now isn't exactly the time for twenty questions."

"But, what about the battle we're supposed to be fighting?" Dwight called "Couldn't she..."

"GUYS!" Sara stopped and yelled "Now is _not_ the time for this."

"Sorry." the group chorused. Sara nodded acceptingly and continued walking

"Sara?" Ara called from behind Violet "We have to stop."

"Why?" Sara asked. Everyone had been following her without complaint for two hours, but now they were starting to get tired. Rain was pretty much a dead weight and was almost being carried by Ara and Greg. Nobody had dared say a thing because they were worried about Sara. Vera hadn't woken up, and was still in Sara's arms. Even though she must have been tired, the brunette wasn't showing it. She had barely said anything since she had found the bodies of her two friends, and internally wasn't planning on saying anything anytime soon.

"Because everybody's tired and nobody wants to say a damn thing about it." Jordan snapped, always rude when she was exhausted.

"Oh." Sara replied shortly "I hadn't noticed."

"I think we all noticed that."

"Don't be rude."

"I'm not. You're just being stupid."

"Both of you, stop it!" Ammariah said, stepping in front of Sara "We do have to stop. I know a place where we can."

"You do?" Greg's voice glinted with hope "For more than one night."

"Yes." Ammariah almost laughed "It belongs to me, but I rarely use it."

"Great! How long from here?" Nick asked

"About an hour and a half. We'll be there before you know it."

"Sara?" Jordan asked, finding her friend outside of the house where Ammariah had led them. Everyone else was asleep, but Jordan couldn't relax until she knew how Sara was.

"Yeah?" Sara turned around, her face tearstained

"You okay?"

"I'm fine." she mumbled, turning away

"There's the answer you'll give everyone else, now where's the real answer?" Sara sighed

"I'm not fine."

"I know that." Jordan moved over to sit beside Sara "So what's really wrong?"

"It's this thing with Vera's parents and Rain and everything."

"What about it?"

"I just realized that...with this whole rebellion and the war and everything that people are going to die and it's going to be my fault."

"Everybody dies sometimes." Jordan said softly

"I know, but if it's my fault...I'll just feel so much worse about it."

"Everybody who joins this thing will join it on personal choice, Sar. They know what's going to happen."

"It's not that." Sara sighed "Even though this thing has just started, I've sort of grown close to everybody. It's just going to keep getting worse and then when the big battle comes and people die..."

"You'll feel like you're losing everything."

**A/N: Bad place to cut it, I know, but I just had to. Hope you liked it! Please R&R!**


	10. Chapter 10

* * *

A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! Quite sorry for taking so long to put this up. My plans for this chapter changed hands a few times, and changed a bit. Thanks for sticking with me!

* * *

The group had rested at Ammariah's hut for almost a week, and had run into no trouble. The team was being trained, and they were all doing very well. Sara trusted Rhea enough to let her take over Grissom's training, as Mato wanted to start teaching her defensive and offensive moves against multiple targets. Jordan, who Sara trusted the most, was in charge of moving between each training session and report back to Sara.

When the sun rose in the morning, Sara was already awake, training with Rhea, who was using the late evening and early morning hours to teach her how to effectively use and control black magic. Sara had to admit, it was coming in quite handy, but was monumentally hard to use. When everyone from the team had assembled in the main room of the hut, they could feel that something was different. There was a feeling of excitement and anticipation in the air that morning, as if something big was about to happen. When Sara walked in, the first thing on all their minds was

"What's going on today?" Greg was the first to voice it

"What do you mean?"

"Everyone just seems kind of...excited." Nick said, struggling to explain the feeling

"What are you..."

"Sara, they don't know." Jordan reminded her quietly

"Oh yeah." Everyone looked at Sara with curiosity painting all their expressions

"What's going to happen? Some big battle?" Greg said, excited

"Uh...nothing quite like that." Sara laughed "Today we start our walk to the Senoba d'Anai'a."

"What in the world is that?" Catherine asked

"It means 'Day of Loyalty." Vera put in. She had become quite amiable despite her parents' deaths, and everyone had started to like her "It's when everbody from every realm gathers to hear the Leader talk about himself and his great plans for the future." Vera's tone sounded like she was shooting acid from it. She blamed the Ruler for her parents death, believing that he ordered someone to kill them.

"Yeah, it's a day long festival with food and games and things." Violet picked up "It's pretty much the one thing that connects all the realms."

"It's actually really fun, but it's going to take us two days to walk there. We have to leave now."

* * *

"Is this stupid day thing worth the stupid walk?" Warrick grumbled

"It doesn't matter if it's worth it or not. If we don't go, he'll find us and probably kill us." Felina explained "So, we don't really have a choice."

"Great." Nick rolled his hawk eyes "There's democracy for you."

"This isn't a democracy."

"Figure of speech." he laughed at their easy banter. Everyone was smiling and laughing-despite the tension of the day and all the walking- until Sara suddenly froze. Jordan was at the back of the group today, so Rhea was the one to step up beside Sara. The minute her eyes focused on the same thing as her friend's, she froze as well. Sensing that something was very wrong, the entire group stopped behind the two women, and let their eyes fall on what could have been the biggest, most frightening creature that they had ever seen.

The large being that was crouched in the clearing looked to be half human, half rock. It was growling low in its throat, and hunched over something dark that was trying to fight it.

"Shit." Sara muttered, instantly recognizing the thing.

"What is it?" Nick whispered, able to see it from above.

"It's a Scaneian." Rhea whispered back "They're really big, strong half human creatures. The original scaneians used to be humans-bad humans. They were shunned from our society, and went to live as a society of nomads. Now, they wait on the outskirts of the GCM to take unsuspecting visitors as revenge."

"I think it has a person." Sara murmured to Rhea "We need to go get them."

"Are you out of your mind!?" Dwight hissed, stepping forward "You'll kill yourselves."

"Relax." He and Rhea shared a tense look "We'll assess the situation as we go. If it gets too dangerous, we'll reassess. We do need to try."

"I'm coming too." he insisted

"No." Sara shook her head "We don't want to intimidate it. Just wait here. We'll be fine." Without another word from anybody, Sara and Rhea started moving slowly forward. The circled slowly around the clueless scaneian, assessing the situation as they went. There was indeed a person under the monster, and they were trying their best to fight their way out.

"We've got to get them." Sara muttered "You in?"

"Yeah." Rhea lit up her hands with black magic "Let's do it."

Almost too fast to follow, Sara and Rhea darted forward, both shooting the scaneian with their different shades of magic. The creature finally took notice of the two women, and turned around, bellowing. The person was still in his hands, and they both shuddered when they knew that they would have to get closer to it.

Coating the creature in their magic, they paralyzed it momentarily, and took that moment to strike.

Sara grabbed the person's arm and pulled them out of the talons of the Scaneian. The creature threw back its head and bellowed, not taking kindly to having its prey taken from it. Rhea was ready for that reaction. She shot 18 short and fast strings of black magic at it, slicing through it before forming a blanket, coating it and dissolving it.

The person wasn't moving very much, but with Sara on one side and Rhea on the other, they managed to make it back to the group. The two women helped the stranger sit on the ground, and then Sara crouched to face the mystery being.

"Are you alright?" she asked, trying to see the person's face beneath their large hood

"I will be." Came the raspy voice. The stranger raised one hand and undid the tie that kept their cloak on their shoulders. When the cloak fell, it revealed a woman.

The most unique thing about her was her skin. It was the deep colour of the night sky, contrasting with the whites of her eyes. The pupils themselves were the brightest colour Sara had ever seen. They were the colour of lightning meeting the midnight sky, and seemed shine as if they too were electrically charged. Her hair was the same almost white colour as her eyes, but was offset by various light blue strands. She was wearing a dress whose fabric matched the colour of her eyes and reached down to her mid-shins. The waist was defined by a very modest light blue sash. She carried no visible weapons, but Sara wouldn't have been surprised if she had one concealed somewhere, because all of her kind did.

"Who are you?" Rhea asked cautiously, also aware of the woman's position

"My name's Kellanaie. You can call me Kellan though." She said, her voice medium pitch but strong

"I'm Rhea, that's Sara."

"Who's the rest of the group?"

"You don't need to know that right now." Sara said shortly

"What are you?" one of Violet's warriors asked, confused

"Don't you know?" Kellan seemed more amused than offended, and Sara let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding

"She's a Storm Chaser." Sara explained

"What does she do? Make weather?" Greg asked

"Not even close." Jordan jumped in "Storm Chasers, also known as Storm Mages, are the fastest, most cunning and most deviously powerful beings in any realm."

"Yes." Kellan nodded and smiled at Jordan "We have the magic skill level of level 17 mages, the battle skills of the strongest warriors, the speed of leopards, the intelligence of the best healers…it goes on."

"Whoa."

"Yeah. There are very few of us left in these realms. Early on, people were- and still are- afraid of us. They think we're too powerful for our own good. They tried to kill us all, but since we're more powerful than they were…"

"They lost." Sara filled in "We'll let you be on your way." She nodded to Kellan and started to lead the group away.

"Wait!" Kellan yelled "I'm coming with you."

"Why?"

"I owe you. You saved my life, so I have to serve you."

"Consider it a favour." Sara shrugged "I'd do it for anyone."

"That's the other thing about Storm Chasers, though." Kellan explained "We're mysterious, and not usually very social, but when we owe somebody something, or if they're in our good graces, we're loyal to them for life."

"So…"

"So, like it or not, you're stuck with me." She grinned "It won't be too bad. I'll help you out."

"Uh…okay."

"Glad we've come to an understanding." Kellan nodded, pleased "Now come on, we'll all be slaughtered if we're late for Senoba d'Anai'a." Despite herself, Sara laughed

"Alright. Then away we go." She stepped aside to let Kellan take the lead. The Storm Mage didn't move.

"After you." Sara prompted

"Oh, that's what you wanted." Kellan rolled her eyes "You lead."

"I'd much rather…" Kellan cut her off

"Listen. I know that normally, the most powerful being takes lead, but if you're who I think you are, you're more powerful than even me. You lead." Sara's eyes widened. Usually Storm Chasers were arrogant, selfish beings who basked in their power and silent reign over others.

"Sara?" Kellan prompted, gesturing with her hand that Sara should start moving "Go. Seriously."

"Fine." She held up two hands, almost in surrender, and retook the lead.

* * *

"Wow." Was all that Catherine could say when she first saw the Grand Council Ministry. The group was on a hill, in a position where they could see the entire building.

"Yeah." Jordan breathed "As much as I hate our ruler, you have to admit that he makes a nice fortress."

The Grand Council Ministry was a building, located in the centre of a small, neutral land called Garillin. The building itself was surrounded by a wall made of heavy stone and onyx blocks. There were towers on each of the four corners, each with two guards and a lookout in it. Inside the wall, there was a large green that was already full of people ready for the Senoba d'Anai'a. The actual building was a very large, grey stone structure. The people of the mortal realm would have identified it as one of the best examples of gothic revival architecture, but everyone in the magical realms just knew if as the GCM building. It had a high peaked roof and two towers in front, framing the door. Two wings branched off from the centre building, drawing the eye to it. On the top of the centre building, there was a large clock tower shooting up higher than any of the smaller towers on the other wings. The entire structure was liberally windowed and intricately designed, showing off the Ruler's wealth.

"Come on. It's starting soon." Sara's voice broke through the almost trance-like mood that had come with everyone's first view of the building

"Now," she started as they descended the hill into Garilin "Pay very, very close attention to the grounds, the building and the attitude of all the guards. When you're going in the wall, look closely at its structure. Identify any weak points in the property. Perimeter included."  
"Why?" Nick asked "Aren't we just here to be 'loyal' to this Ruler guy?"

"Officially, yes. We have a hidden agenda, though. In the final battle of the rebellion, we will be attacking the Grand Council Ministry. We can't just come here on a daily basis and get a guided tour of the place. This is where we get all of our information for the last battle." Everyone instantly turned serious, as if realizing for the first time how big the movement they were starting was. They looked at the building with a new eye. A critical eye.

"…need to split up." Sara kept talking

"Wait, what?" Greg asked

"We all need to split up. Into groups depending on our skills."

"Why?"

"Because," Sara sighed, annoyed with the constant explanations "As a large group, we seem suspicious. We're all of different skill level and type. Usually people with different abilities don't travel together. They'll suspect some sort of rebellion and keep a careful eye on us, even after we leave the Senoba d'Anai'a. That's just something we can't afford."

"So how are we going to split ourselves?" Grissom asked, the voice of reason

"I'll go with Rhea and Vera," She started "Ara, Greg, Rain and Cath will go together,"

"I'm going with Rain!" Violet said stubbornly

"Fine. Violet goes with Rain." Sara sighed "Felina and Nick go together with Warrick; Grissom, you and Jordan will go with Dwight. Violet, your warriors will have to go in alone because they're Capretian, but we've put a tracking spell on them. If they so much as take a step outside that wall, I'll know."

"Fair enough." Violet nodded

"What about him?" One of Violet's warriors pointed to Mato "And the Goddess? And the Storm Mage?"

"Ammariah has to go with the other divines." Sara explained "Because Kellan's a Storm Chaser, she wouldn't normally be caught with anyone other than another Storm Mage, and Mato's so high up, that it'd be out of place if he showed up with us."

"Can I go alone?" Vera asked "I have friends here that I want to see."

"Alright Ver. You'll catch up with us later?"

"Of course." Vera nodded excitedly "Can I go now?"

"Yeah." Sara smiled as the girl ran off down towards the building

"Any more rules?" Greg asked. It was supposed to be sarcastic, but Sara nodded

"If anyone provokes you into a fight, don't take the bait." She explained "The Ruler will be looking out for anyone with skills that could be harmful to him."

"What happens if he finds that person?" Nick asked

"Nothing good." Everybody cringed at the thought "Just keep yourselves in check. No fighting. Even if someone tells you that you have immunity. Just play it safe, keep your eyes and ears open and have a good time."

"How do we know when it's over?" Catherine asked

"You'll instinctively know. People will all start leaving at once. We'll all meet up back here."

"What if we can't find our way back? What would you like us to do?" Grissom spoke up

"You're all grouped with at least one person who knows about all this. They'll find their way back just fine. Do we all understand?" Everyone nodded

"Okay. Good luck." With that, they parted into their separate groups and went towards the wall.

* * *

"Welcome once again to the Senoba d'Anai'a." The Ruler said to the now large assembly "It is a pleasure to see all of your loyal faces here once again to honour the greatness of our joint realms."

In short he wants to thank us for keeping the war going on so long. Violet projected her thoughts into Sara's head

As always Sara thought back Now shut up. I can't concentrate with you in my head.

"However; There is one among us who is back from banishment!" The Leader's voice boomed out over the crowd, which had fallen silent "Her!" His large finger was pointed undoubtedly at Rhea. All eyes turned to the strawberry blonde, who looked almost defiantly at the leader.

"Why have you returned!?" He demanded

"I have fulfilled my obligation." She answered, projecting her voice all the way to the front of the green "I granted the wish of a mortal that was not directed at a god, therefore, I am granted another chance."

"I am well aware of the terms of your exile." He said "However, I believe that you need to be tested."

"Tested in what way?"

"You will be fighting two of my men." He gestured to two large, sturdy men at the front of the crowd "You will compete against them in defense with weapons and defense with magic."  
"I've only just started re-learning those skills!" she protested "I couldn't possibly…"

"Silence!" he commanded. Despite her dislike for the man, Rhea stopped talking "You will compete. That is final!"

"Yes, sir." She nodded politely "I was wrong to question your orders."

"Very well." He nodded to the first man, a broad shouldered warrior with sable hair "Mesco, go."

The man stepped forward, unsheathing his sword. Rhea turned to Sara, her eyes wild

"I don't have any weapons on me." She hissed "How am I supposed to fight him!?"

"Here," Sara unsheathed her own sword and handed it to Rhea "Use mine."

"Thank you." Rhea moved to leave, but Sara pulled her back

"Turn around."

"Why?"

"Hair." Sara nodded to Rhea's hip-length hair "It's going to get in the way."

"Oh, yeah." The blonde turned around and Sara started twisting her hair into a low braid

"You're going to be fine." Sara told her quietly "Just watch his every move and be careful."

"Thanks."

"Oh, and Rhea?"

"Yeah?"

"Watch what you're doing." She whispered, almost inaudibly "We both know how good you really are. If you win either of these fights…"

"I know." Rhea whispered back "I'll watch it."

"Good." Sara nodded "Good luck." She caught Jordan's eye across the crowd and shot her a nervous look. Jordan shrugged and gestured to the two in the centre of the green.

The crowd had separated so there was a large circle in the centre of the area. The Leader had a clear view of the two competitors from the raised platform that he was seated on, and was staring intently at them, the beginning of a smile making his mouth twitch. The man who she was fighting was almost twice Rhea's size, and obviously an experienced warrior.

"Competitors at the ready." The Leader called out. Both Rhea and the man, Mesco, brought their swords up. Rhea was holding hers somewhat awkwardly, partly because she wasn't used to that particular weapon, and partly because she was going to throw the match.

"Go!"

At the sound of the Leader's voice, the two started circling eachother, both looking for the other's point of weakness. Rhea could see that Mesco was standing in a way that he could be easily un-balanced. If she struck him on his right side, she could throw him off his centre of balance and easily take him to the ground.

But I can't she reminded herself. Instead, she veered to the left too quickly and brought her sword out. Mesco's sword blade met hers in the air, and he flipped it out of her hands. Because she was moving too fast, the power of his sword meeting hers sent her backwards onto the ground. She stood up slowly and ran over to get her sword. There was a fire in here eyes, and she desperately wished she could fight to the best of her abilities. The man took her distraction to his advantage and stepped towards her. He thrust his sword towards the middle of her torso. Instead of twisting to the right as she could have, Rhea dropped to the ground, leaving her back exposed. Surprised, the man brought his sword down on her back lightly, but quickly, leaving a shallow cut behind it.

"Two points to Mesco!" The Leader called out, then said to Rhea "We're going to three. You're not doing too well." Without waiting for a response, he waved his hand at the two fighters, gesturing for them to continue.

Rhea studied her opponent carefully. She knew he was going to attack her on her right side, simply because she set it up so he would. Bracing herself for his move, she was surprised when he veered to her left and brought his sword up in front of him, trying to slice it vertically downwards. She easily blocked his blade with her own and looked at him, confused.

"I know you're throwing the fight." He hissed  
"How?" she whispered back, their blades still locked

"Remember the Senoba d'Anai'a before you get banished?"

"Mmhmm." He pulled his arms up, separating their blades. They circled eachother as they continued talking

"Well, I was the one you fought in the last competition."

"Oh yeah! I remember you."

"Yeah, you almost beat me, but you threw that one too." He said "Then you got banished before I could ask you for a real fight."

"Yeah, I remember." She replied shortly

"Why are you throwing this?"

"Because I just got back. I'm not going to get killed this soon. And besides, you're a member of his guards. He expects you to win and he won't do anything to you."

"Fine." Mesco whispered "But I want to fight you later, alone."

"Agreed. Now just beat me." As soon as she finished her sentence, she turned so her entire defense was on her left side. He came at her from the right, and she turned around to miss the blade, leaving her back exposed. He brought his sword down on her back lightly, just gently resting the blade on her cut.

"That's three!" The Leader called "Mesco is the winner." The crowd cheered and the man nodded.

"I'll find you later." He said to Rhea privately "Then we really fight." She nodded lightly and left the ring, letting her head hang as if she was disappointed in her defeat.

"Nice job." Sara said quietly as Rhea handed her the sword "That was very believable."

"I'm glad. Hope it was worth slicing myself open." Rhea said, lowering her voice until it almost wasn't there "Now I just have to throw the duel against the mage and I'm good."

"What was with the conversation you had with that Mesco guy?"

"I fought him at one of these before I got banished." She explained "I had to throw that match too, because he was already a member of the Leader's guard. He's been waiting to fight me for real."

"And you agreed!?" she hissed "What if it's a trap?"

"I don't think it is. I can ask Violet if she could read his thoughts, but I think he just honestly wants to fight me."

"What if he…"

"Sara, relax." Rhea said, grinning "If it doesn't go well, I can just kill him." She made a small spiral of black magic come out of her finger "After all, we both know I can."

"Fine." Sara smiled "Now go do your worst." She pushed Rhea playfully towards the green, where the other mage was already waiting, his arms crossed. He was tall with jet black hair and green eyes. Not unlike Mesco, he was almost twice the size of Rhea with broad, solid shoulders. She sighed, having seen this man fight before. He was a good mage, but didn't think through his attacks and was very sloppy with his magic. She could have beaten him without trying, and knew that she was going to need to make an effort to lose.

"Ready!" called the leader when she was standing opposite her opponent. They both nodded, and he raised his voice to project it throughout the entire crowd "Begin!"

Rhea studied the man she was facing. His hands were now hanging loosely at his sides, ready to counter-attack. It was clear he expected her to make the first move, so she brought her hands up and sent a half-hearted stream of blue and pink magic towards the man who, for show, made a big deal of blocking it and sending a fast moving stream of yellow and silver magic towards Rhea. Putting on a fake expression of fear, she tried to block it, but the man's magic blew through her defense. She ducked with a squeak, narrowly avoiding the stream.

"One!" The Ruler called. Rhea ground her teeth, almost unable to restrain herself from blasting the Ruler into oblivion while he wasn't looking. Instead, she turned her attention back to the fight.

Before assessing again, her opponent started to get cocky. He shot a straight on spherical barrier of magic towards Rhea. She tried to duck out of the way, but he sent two streams of magic her way, on either side. Forgetting for a moment where she was, she shot an oval shaped pipe of black magic towards the sphere, and two spirals of regular magic towards his streams. When her counter-attack hit his offensive head on, and broke it, she gasped and froze. Staring at the Ruler, she tried to see if he had witnessed her slip. It appeared that he hadn't, but she mentally kicked herself for not being more careful. She let her opponent get an easy hit while the ruler was looking straight at them.

"Two!" he called calmly, looking somewhat dissapointed that she was losing, and that he wasn't going to get to kill her.

Her last hit was quite painful for her ego. The fight was pretty much equal-even with her throwing it. The man kept throwing badly placed shots at her, making it too easy for her to forget herself and deflect them. The last move he made was a stupid one. He shot only one wave, quite a thin one at that, straight into the middle of her torso. She held her instincts back and prepared to make the worst move in fight history. She turned around. Whirling away from the wave, she let her back face her opponent, leaving her momentarily blind. He shot her another sheet, wrapping all the way around her. It would have tightened in a real battle, but the Ruler stopped the fight with a wave of his hand.

"Three." He announced with a smile "It seems that our little exile isn't as smart as she thought. You may go." Rhea nodded glumly and slunk back to where Sara was standing.

"Nice touch at the end." the brunette complimented "I thought you were a gonner."

"Thanks." Rhea said, an annoyed edge to her voice

"You really wanted to win that one, didn't you." it wasn't a question

"I did. The entire time, I watched him make mistakes that I could have used against him."

"Just relax and enjoy the rest of the day." Sara said with a laugh "You'll get a chance for a good fight much later." she glanced up at the still talking Ruler "And against a much stronger opponent."

* * *


	11. Chapter 11

The Senoba d'Anai'a had ended without any more excitement. Nobody had run into any trouble, and had found their way back to the group quickly afterwards. The inevitable hike back to Kantara stared them all in the face, and nobody looked truly excited about it.

"I know a place where we can spend the night." Sara told everyone once they were assembled "We'll still have to walk a little, but it's not as far, and we were going to end up there anyways."

"Lead the way." Warrick said, making a motion for her to start walking

"Thanks." Sara started walking, and everyone fell into a loose version of the now familiar formation that they took whenever they were moving as a group. Sara obviously at the front, flanked by Jordan and Rhea. The team still held position in the middle, the spot where, traditionally, the most inexperienced and vulnerable stayed. Nick went wherever he wanted, since he was usually in bird form. The rest of the group fanned out behind Sara, Jordan and Rhea according to their skill and power level.

The majority of the walk was uneventful. The sky grew dark quickly, but Sara could see through the dark, as could Nick and Felina. They continued through the pitch black forest without interruption, until Rhea suddenly disappeared.

She squeaked as she was pulled sideways by a stranger in a large hood. She just as soon recovered and her hands lit up black and red.

"Holy shit. You threw the second one too." Mesco tore off his hood and stared at Rhea

"Oh crap. It's you." She yanked him aside "What the hell are you doing here!?"

"You promised me a fight. I want it today."

"Now!?"

"Yeah. Let's go."

"Where?"

"I know a spot. It's open, but secluded. Nobody'll find us."

"Fine. But if you try anything funny…" she lit up her hands again, this time making the glow bigger and brighter "I can do something about it."

"I know." He held up two hands in surrender . Rhea nodded in acceptance and started to follow him.

"Wait, where are you going!?" Sara asked

"I told you about the duel I was having with him."

"I'm coming too."

"Seriously?"

"Yup. I'm in charge of this thing and that means I have to keep tabs on _everybody_."

"You don't need to keep tabs on me."

"Yes I do." Sara looked Rhea straight in the eye as she said it, and Rhea sighed.

"Fine."

"Jordan?"

"I've got the rest of 'em." The other brunette nodded

"We'll catch up with the rest of you later." Sara waved to Jordan and followed Rhea and Mesco farther into the forest.

-------

"You sure you want to fight me?" Rhea asked, taking Sara's sword in her hands

"Why wouldn't I be?" He turned his own around and stared at her

"Just asking."

"So, how do you want to start this?"

"How good are you?"

"I'm in the Ruler's guard."

"Then we start it like this." Her mouth turned into a slight smile as she sliced the air an inch from his body

"Hey!"

"Look alive guard boy." She took another slice near him. This time he blocked her sword and tried to twist it out of her hands as he had done in the fight, but she pulled her sword above her head, keeping full control of the weapon; something that most swordfighters learned only in the last, most advanced stages of their training

Now, obviously annoyed, Mesco narrowed his eyes and brought the sword down on her right side, as most of her defenses were on her left. Somewhat surprised, Rhea ducked, dropping to one knee and bringing her sword blade up to meet his just above and to the right of her shoulder. She pushed up on his blade, using her knees and the maximum amount of force possible, flinging his sword above his head. It landed on the ground behind him, and with a swift turn, he picked it back up. The second his back was turned away from Rhea, she pulled her sword down onto his neck lightly.

"Strike one." She grinned. Despite himself, Mesco almost laughed. He tried to stab the sword into her torso area, but she took a wide step back and caught the blade in her own. She tried to twist it out of his hands again, but he spun with the sword, somehow always keeping his chest and head facing Rhea. She didn't want to admit it to herself, but he was actually pretty good.

Backing off her attack momentarily, she let him take the offensive. He twisted his hands around in a complicated series of movements, all the while closing the distance between them. He aimed the highest point of his movements at her shoulders, and the lowest point at her knees. He was so connected with his weapon that his eyes never left Rhea's. As his slices came within one inch of her shoulder, she moved. Almost too fast for the eye to follow, she darted around him to his other side. Mesco turned almost as quickly, and instantly their positions had changed. When he was once again facing her, she swiped at him with the tip of her sword blade. He stepped quickly to one side and blocked the sword, but she tore her blade from his and attacked again with no hesitation. This time, the strike at his hip met its target without interference. She touched his skin lightly and grinned.

"Strike two."

"You're aggravating, you know." He tried to distract her while he took a wide slash at her waist. She met his blade and scowled playfully at him.

"You can't distract me."

"I can try, can't I?" he sidestepped, gracefully avoiding the half-hearted slice that Rhea had used

"You can, but you won't succeed."

"You're quite cocky for an ex-exile."

"That's quite a tongue twister. And, I'm allowed to be cocky."

"Really. What gives you that power?"

"Power comes with power." She ducked down and did a half turn to get out of the way of Mesco's high shot at her head.

"What do you mean?"

"When you gain a certain amount of extreme power, other types of power just come naturally to you."

"So you have that type of power?"

"Yes." She said simply, taking a stab at his stomach. He jumped out of the way just in time and sliced the air in front of her. He positioned his blade just above her right shoulder and let it hover there while he looked into her eyes.

"You know, even the most powerful goddesses need consorts." That distracted her. While she took a few seconds to unravel the possible meaning of the sentence in her mind, he brought his sword across her body from her right shoulder to her left hip. She snapped out of her thoughts and let instinct take over.

The most powerful instinct in anyone's mind – mortal or otherwise – is the instinct for survival and self preservation. The moment Mesco's sword blade touched her skin, she was on the defensive. Though she had promised Mesco an equal fight, the truth was that Rhea had been holding back. Not quite as much as during the Senoba d'Anai'a, but still enough not to reveal her true abilities. When she felt the material of her dress slit open after the blade's touch, she growled deep in her throat and twisted out of the sword's path. She brought the sword up, shifting it to an unusual angle that, if he had looked closely, Mesco would have recognized as the most stable and effective way to hold a sword; a skill that took years of practice to be able to use effectively. Even though it was the most effective hold, it was the most rarely used because it was awkward unless you consciously studied it. Rhea used her powerful hold to keep the sword upright and stable in her hands as she darted around Mesco in a powerful swirl of almost-magic. She traced a sharp spiral in the fabric of his clothes from his shoulder to his ankle, though she moved so rapidly that every time he turned to defend himself, she was somewhere else. When he turned to face forward, she was already crouched down on one knee with her sword tip stuck into the ground. She looked up at him through a curtain of her hair, and smiled.

"Strike three." She laughed weakly

"You were holding back this time too." He accused incredulously

"More than you know."

"And that last part? You're that powerful all the time?"

"Not exactly." She let a small glow overtake her body

"You're _more_ than _that!?" _His jaw was hanging open

"About three times more." She nodded her confirmation

"Oh good god! What _are_ you?"

"Name's Rhea, nice to meet you." She stuck out her hand and grinned. He took it, and then pulled away as if an electric current had shocked him. Looking at his hand, he saw a black and red swirl that almost resembled a sun being overtaken by a crescent moon.

"What the…"

"It sees into your thoughts." Rhea explained, letting her appearance turn into that of her menacing, dark mage self "If even the first breath of one word of my powers so much as runs down your brain stem with the intent of betraying my undeserving trust, you will die the longest, most painful death that anyone in these realms has ever and will ever experience. Got that guard boy?" She stabbed his chest with one of her fingers, emphasizing the last two words.

"Uh…Got it." He gulped

"I'm glad." Her appearance stayed as the dark one she had taken on, but the change in her demeanor was like night and day. She was instantly perky and smiling "No hard feelings about the fight?"

"Um…not at all."

"Excellent. It was pretty fun."

"That was fun for you?" he asked, using his tone to imply that it was work for him

"Sorry," she shrugged and gave him an apologetic look "I can't do anything about my skill."

"Yeah." Mesco still had a slightly incredulous look on his face.

"Remember to keep this to yourself." She looked over her shoulder at him, walking back towards Sara "If you tell anyone…"

"I know, I know." He paled slightly "Long, painful death."

"Glad we're on the same page." She wiggled her fingers in goodbye and nodded to Sara

"That was amazing." Sara said quietly

"Glad you thought so. Let's get moving." Mesco stared wide eyed after the two women, and then at the dark swirl on his palm. He shook his head and muttered 'unbelievable' to himself, turning on his heal and walking away slowly.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for taking so long with this. The next update should come sooner. Hope you liked this chapter! Click the little box on the bottom of the page and let me know!


	12. Chapter 12

A quick little excerpt from chapter two. It ties into this chapter nicely. I actually wrote this chapter for the sequal to this story, but I like it right where it is now.

_"Why do you still need to practice? Aren't you already a mage?"_

_"I..." Sara wrung her hands as she spoke "can't tell you that."_

The idea of vampires drinking animal blood is something I got from Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, who I am not, therefore I don't own Twilight.

**This story does have a battle in it (multiple battles actually) but I'd like to take a moment to recognize the troops who fought in the second world war, and all the wars and battles preceeding and following it. In honour of Armistice Day (Rememberance Day for all the Canadians out there) I'd like to dedicate this chapter to all the courageous men and women fighting for our safety. The war is awful, but they're out there fighting nonetheless. Thanks.**

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After walking only a few hours, I saw a glow in the forest ahead of us. Since her fight, Rhea had been unusually quiet, but as soon as she saw the lights, she perked up. We cleared the top of a ridge, and then everyone froze. Even though our trip had already exposed them to many new, surprising things, I knew that the sight of Nefesta at night was something nobody got used to. There were thousands upon thousands of small white twinkle lights strung from one side of the main street to another. The lights continued all the way down the street, even though it reached on miles past what the eyes could see. Well, their eyes at least. My vision was, as always, inhumanly impeccable.

"What is this place?" Greg asked, his eyes roaming over every softly lit surface, taking it all in

"It's called Nefesta. It's the vampire town."

"Vampires?" Catherine looked more than a little scared at the thought of the undead, blood sucking monsters that she was clearly picturing.

"Don't worry." I laughed "Hollywood doesn't do them justice. They're nothing like what you see in movies."

"Good." She shuddered slightly "Those movies are creepy." Everyone looked at her like she was crazy

"What!?" she said defensively "So monster movies scare me."

"Didn't say a word." Warrick murmured, holding back a smile. I grinned

"Why are we in a vampire village?" Grissom asked

"I want the help of the vampires for this thing, because even though most of the people we're going to be up against aren't human, they're scared to death of the vampires."

"Excellent." Warrick grinned. Now that his powers as a warrior were more developed, he started thinking about things from the tactical side. He understood how beneficial it would be to have vampires on our side.

"I just have to find the one I'm looking for, and then see if they'll help us."

"While you're doing that, can we go do stuff?" Rhea asked from the middle of the group "Because, honestly, following you around while you try to find people doesn't exactly sound like fun."

"Yeah," I laughed "everyone can leave. Only you five," I pointed to Warrick, Catherine, Nick, Greg and Grissom "have to stay with me."

"What!? Why?" Clearly, Nick thought that following me around would be as boring as Rhea did

"Just do it." I didn't want to explain

"I want a reason too." Greg said angrily "Why?"

"Yeah, you're not making any sense." Warrick chimed in

"We can take care of ourselves." Catherine put in

"Exactly. Why won't you let us leave?" Grissom's final comment pissed me off. They should have just listened and followed my instructions without asking why. I glared at all of them, letting the fire in my eyes turn them from their normal blue-green to a bright, glowing red.

"You can't leave because you're human." I growled "Vampires can control themselves around the rest of us, but not around anyone who's human. They'll kill you and everyone around you who isn't a vampire, including everyone else in our group. You can't endanger us like that; I won't allow it. You stick with me."

"Then they'll just kill you because of us." Grissom said, the least shaken by my acidic tone.

"No, they won't." I hissed, once again annoyed at their lack of understanding "Only another vampire can protect humans. You'll be safe with me, so just follow and stop talking."

"What if someone gets to us before we find whatever vampire you're looking for?" Of course nobody followed my instructions

"They'll have to go through me, and they won't."

"Why not?" Catherine asked defiantly "You're just as human as the rest of us."

"I have never been human." I snarled, letting my eyes glow with anger. Everyone's faces had the same mask of fear on them, so I toned it down "I haven't been human for a while, at least."

"If you're not human, then what are you?" Greg asked cautiously

"Apart from Immortal? I'm everything."

"Everything?"

"Everything." I grinned, for once letting the power that only I possessed wrap itself around me "A mage, a warrior, elemental, shape-shifter, healer, protector, vampire…and everything else that exists in these realms. If you can name it, I have the power to become it."

Their mouths all hung open in the exact same way. It was actually somewhat amusing. I was trying to suppress a smile when a movement out of the corner of my eye got my attention. I whirled around towards the invisible threat, growling deep in my throat.

"Oh cut it out, Kina. It's just me." A dark haired woman walked out from the shadows. I could hear the entire team gasp at the sight of her. She was very unlike the vampires that Hollywood had created. Like most of her type, she was startlingly beautiful, which helped A) attract her prey –humans; and B) gave her a powerful cloaking device, since when most people looked for vampires, the looked for hideous, undead zombie-like creatures with black capes. I didn't doubt that she had a black cape somewhere, but she certainly wasn't wearing it tonight.

She had on a knee length deep purple dress that hugged her body perfectly. The purple was darkened slightly by the black, floral patterned netting that covered it. Her dark, layered hair hung loosely past her shoulders and was parted on the side, cut into a set of slanting bangs that stayed in place nicely. Her face was pale – a characteristic all vampires share – and her shining maroon eyes stood out against her white skin and dark hair.

"Who is _that_?" Greg asked, jaw on the ground

"This is Neela." I said "She's one of my closest vampire friends."

"The coolest one, at least." Neela said with a smile "Who are all of you?"

"These are my human friends Greg, Grissom, Nick, Warrick and Catherine." I pointed to each of them in turn

"Oh, so _these_ are the mortals that you turned." She arched one of her perfect eyebrows "No offense, but they don't look like much. I mean, seriously." She rolled her eyes "If I were going to change anyone, I'd do some serious searching beforehand. Like…Leonardo Dicaprio or someone"

"It's not like I had much of a choice. Leo wasn't exactly hanging around." I told her with a slight smile "Besides, they came here, and you know the rules."

"You weren't exactly following the rules." She reminded me with a smile "I heard about your little rebellion."

"It's not little. And you're going to be a part of it." She froze and stared at me incredulously

"What?"

"Yeah. I need you in on this."

"Well…" she closed her eyes and massaged her temples. She finally sighed and opened them "Fine."

"Thank you. So much."

"This isn't going to be simple, you know."

"Of course not." I rolled my eyes again "Because it couldn't be that easy."

"Easy?" Neela put a look of mock disgust on her face "Perish the though! Even the suggestion of something so horrendous would be blasphemous. I have half a mind to throw you in jail this very moment." I growled playfully at her and made my eyes glow. She crouched down lower to the ground and snarled back at me.

"Bring it on mage girl."

"You asked for it." It took only a second to change my appearance and power to that of a vampire, and then I launched myself at her. It wasn't a hard attack, and she rolled around on the ground with me for a few seconds before biting my shoulder and standing back up.

"Eww. Neela, you're disgusting." I rubbed my bare shoulder. She had barely broken the skin, and it didn't hurt much.

"And you taste horrible." She spat on the ground "When was the last time you changed?"

"Not for a while. If you haven't noticed, I work with humans."

"A slight complication." she said dismissively "Just practice control. I used to work around humans too."

"Whatever." I smiled. I had missed her.

"So, why are you here?" she had dropped all the no-nonsense playing around stuff, at least for now.

"I want to talk to you about the tactics of the battle."

"Well, it has to be complex, or you wouldn't have brought the humans." She nodded to my friends "Or the cavalry." Another nod in the general direction that the rest of my group had disappeared

"They've all come on their own accord."

"Yeah, as if they'd leave you alone in vampire town." She rolled her eyes

"We didn't know it was a vampire town." Greg mumbled. Neela looked towards him with a clear interest, not all of which was friendly.

"Nee, you are not drinking my friends." I hissed at her. I knew the team heard me, because they all stiffened at the same time.

"Oh, relax." She sighed "I wasn't going to. A girl can dream, though. Can she not?"

"Heaven forbid you might have normal fantasies."

"These are normal – for vampires at least. Look me in the eye and tell me you haven't had some seriously whacked out fantasies in your vamp form."

"Whatever." I glared at her "Speaking of; where can we stay for tonight?"

"All of you?" she looked down the road, clearly thinking of the rest of our group

"Not all of them. Just the humans and me."

"Oh. You guys can stay with me."

"Business going well?" I asked, remembering her small hut, and knowing that she meant that she now had a way bigger one.

"Extremely." Her eyes had a strange glint to them, almost ambitious, but proud at the same time.

"What businesses do vampires have?" Nick said cautiously

"I import blood." She said almost evilly, grinning at their scared expressions "What!? You'd want a change from normal animal blood once in a while too."

"Stop scaring them." I elbowed her

"Oh, speaking of blood, when was the last time you had a drink?" In my normal form, the idea of drinking another creature's blood – human or otherwise – would be revolting. In my vampire form, however, the mention of it almost made my mouth water.

"Not for years." I said, my desire clear in my voice

"Well, I'll hook you up with something good."

"I'll love you forever if you do." I smiled gratefully at her.

"Want me to show the humans around for a while?"

"No. you'll just do something stupid with them." I shot her a glare that clearly said 'don't eat my friends.'

"I wasn't gonna." She looked at the ground, but I could see a guilty look in her eyes.

"I bet you weren't." One of the great things about Neela was that she couldn't lie unless she absolutely had to. She had these stellar, deep maroon eyes that changed to bright red when she was thirsty and back to her mortal colour when she wasn't. Apart from being monumentally beautiful, her eyes gave away everything about her. She hated it, but it was useful when trying to decipher her.

"What do you want to do then? I'm not having a serious chat with you until you're not so thirsty." She had noted my glowing eyes.

"I dunno. What do you guys want to do?" I turned to my team. They were all standing, mouths hanging open, just staring at me "What?" Then I realized that they hadn't seen me in my vampire form before.

_Oh hell. This'll be fun_

"Guys, relax. It's just me." Despite my attempts to assure them that I was the same, I knew how I looked. As a vampire I was, by default, drop dead gorgeous. My dark hair reached my shoulder blades, and was layered much like Neela's. My eyes were of course a bright, glowing red since I was so thirsty. My vampire dress was, as I knew, stunning. It was a flat black number that just brushed my knees. The black was sprinkled with small silver threads that shone in the light and gave the entire number a magical appearance, which made me look like a goddess. In addition to the stellar dress and the freaky eyes, I also now had retractable fangs. Most of the vampires never used their fangs. They were available, though, and grew from our canines whenever we needed to bite into something more…solid that usual. Generally speaking though, we used our normal, mortal-like teeth. They were razor sharp and could probably cut through wood without a problem.

"Your…uh…dress is nice." Grissom cleared his throat

"Thanks." I grinned "It's a favourite of mine."

"So, what are we doing now?" Nick asked, now in his human form

"Well, since I can't let you loose in town just yet, and Neela won't talk to me, we'll just have to go back to her place and wait until tomorrow."

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"Is there anything in this town that isn't gorgeous?" Catherine muttered when she saw Neela's house for the first time. I had to admit, I was stunned too. The last time I had seen it, it was a normal, wood hut with a wood and moss roof. Now, it was wood and stone with a shale roof. The door was sturdy, and the entire structure was wrapped in more twinkle lights and ivy. It was twice the size of a normal hut, and I was pretty sure the interior would be spectacular. When she lived in the human realms, she was an interior decorator.

"I underestimated you." I murmured, looking at the house

"Business has been _really_ good." She shot me a radiant smile, the light reflecting softly off her teeth "Just wait until you see inside."

"What have you done to it?" I asked her with a grin

"I found some stellar pieces in the mortal realm, and I made some stuff from materials I found over here."

"Let's see it." She smiled wider, obviously dying to show me.

"Well," she asked, opening the door and sweeping her hand over the inside "What do you think."

"You're a genius." My mouth hung open when I saw the inside. The entire main room was open, and there was a partition near the back that I assumed hid bedrooms and whatever she had put in to run her business. The main pieces in the room were made of dark wood and very big. They were dominating the room, but somehow didn't overshadow the black shale coffee table and the warm, redwood chairs and couches. The floors were made of dirt – normal for most of the magical realm beings – but they were almost shiny, which was odd. I saw the rough wood roof beams above, and there was even ivy growing on them. Overall it was very rustic, and very tasteful.

"So you like what I've done with it?"

"It's beautiful." I assured her

"Where'd you get all of this?" Catherine asked, taking it all in.

"I know some unique places back in the mortal realm. They always have great stuff."

"Nice." Her tone was appraising. I could definitely sense a remodel in her future.

"There are two bedrooms in the back. You can split them up however you like, but the rest of you will have to stay out here or sleep on the bedroom floors."

"Just look for signs on the doors before you go in." I looked at Neela pointedly "Like one that says Bloodbank, maybe."

"Oh, yeah. Avoid the two doors at the end and the third door on the left." She grinned at me

"Where are you going to sleep?" Warrick asked

"I don't need as much sleep as you mortals." She gestured towards the hall "It's seriously fine. You're all probably tired." They all smiled sheepishly and walked off towards the hall.

"So," I flopped down on her couch and looked up at the beams "How long've you had this place up?"

"Year and a bit." She walked into the hall as she spoke. I heard some hinges, rustling plastic, and the slam of a door.

"You've done pretty well for yourself." I commented

"I'm in high demand." She grinned "Here." Neela put a cup down on the table in front of me

"You're my hero." I smiled at her gratefully. The cup wasn't clear, but I could smell the iron and copper before I could even see the blood itself. I downed the entire contents of the glass in one gulp and put it back on the table.

"Wow. You were thirsty." She switched cups and I took it slower this time.

"I know. It's been so long."

"We'll go out later." She promised "I know it's better when it's fresh."

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it. I missed you, you know." Neela sat down beside me as she spoke. She was my best friend after Jordan, and I hadn't seen her in almost a year

"I missed you too."

"So what do you want to talk to me about."

"What's going on with this battle." I crossed my legs and swung to face her "It's really complicated, and I honestly have no clue what I'm doing."

"Well, you're collecting warriors already, so that's good."

"I've got that part figured out, but they need so much _guidance. _I have to arrange training for them and deal with travel and then I have to figure out the tactics of the battle. It's all too much." she knew I was talking about the team

"You just have to get more experienced warriors in your group."

"I don't know who to ask. If I ask the wrong people, they'll go to the Ruler and that's something we just can't afford."

"Well…" she had a calculating expression on her face "I know someone you can ask, but it's not going to be easy to get them in on it." I sighed

"It never is.

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Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I got the most I've ever gotten for one chapter and that made me quite happy. Hope you like this chapter as much as the last one. Please review and tell me what you think!


	13. Definitions of Forever

**A/N: I have a question for everybody who's still reading. I'm playing around with the idea of writing a chapter from someone's perspective other than Sara. I found with this chapter that I enjoy writing in first person. So, is that a good idea, and if yes, who's perspective do you want to see?**

**I hadn't planned on bringing the whole mortal/immortal thing into here, and I know that last chapter I said I was tying some Twilight in here, but the entire mortality thing has been in play since the start of the story. Sara's always been immortal and she always will be.**

**This chapter is written from Sara's POV. I started it in first person, and then realized that this isn't the first person story (the sequal to this is in first person, and I got a little confused since this chapter and the last chapter were originally supposed to be in there, but then my plans for Grissom and Sara changed, so I decided to put them in here instead.) Hope the change of person didn't confuse anyone. Anyways, enjoy!**

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"How was your night?" I asked my bleary eyes friends when they walked into the main room the next morning

"I've had better." Greg rubbed his neck and yawned. He had spent the night sleeping on Neela's couch. Warrick and Catherine had taken a room; Grissom had been given the other, so Nick and Greg were stuck in the living room. I had put a shield spell around the house so no vampires could get in, and Neela and I had spent the night hunting in the forest around her place.

"We had a wonderful night." Catherine flashed him a bright smile "The beds here are very comfortable."

"Yeah, yeah. Rub it in why don't you."

"Just stating a fact." Another smile

"You guys hungry?" I interrupted before things could get out of hand

"Starving." Nick said, sounding relieved that I had asked "Where do you guys go to eat around here."

"We go to the forest." Neela grinned "but we can whip you up something a little more to your…liking." They all looked more than a little uncomfortable at her comment.

"Come on." I laughed "We'll go into town. They have human food too, and with me and Neela around, nobody'll give you a hard time."

--

We were all seated in a dark, pub style café in the centre of town. As per usual, it was dark inside with more twinkle lights and vines winding around every surface freely. The team was shoveling in food like no tomorrow, and I realized we hadn't been eating as much as we should. I didn't necessarily have to – I could twist around my powers so I could go days without eating, but they didn't have that luxury. I sighed and turned my head to scan the rest of the place; just another thing to worry about on top of everything. The café wasn't full; there were only a few people there, and out of that number only about a quarter were vampires. I recognized a few of them, but they didn't come over. Actually, nobody was paying that much attention to us, though I didn't doubt that they could smell my friends. I met the eyes of one for a moment too long, but I attributed that to my own curiosity rather than anything on his part. I turned back to everyone at our table, and found that they were all finished.

"That was quick."

"We were hungry." Warrick shrugged

"So you're ready to get moving?"

"What? Why do we have to leave so soon?"

"Believe me when I tell you that nobody'll stay at arms length for long around you guys." Neela said, giving the other patrons a cursory glance "You're too tempting."

"It's just safer for us to keep moving so we don't have any more demon problems." Their expressions all looked vaguely wild, so I tried to come up with a less…frightening reason for leaving.

"Oh, yeah that's a good idea." Nick said, already relaxing "Those things were vicious."

"They'll only get worse." I agreed, standing up "Let's get going."

"Aren't you going to pay?" Catherine gestured to the table

"We work things out…differently here." I waved at the bartender – another friend – and she winked back.

"How?"

"You're better off in the dark." I assured them, leading them to a thin trail behind the building "We're going to head towards the GCM through the woods, so say goodbye to the city lights for a while."

"I think we're fine with just walking, thanks." Catherine rolled her eyes

"I'll walk a little ways with you, and catch up later, alright?" Neela started leading us through the greenery on the twisting little path

"Sounds good…" I froze mid-sentence and turned back towards the way we had come

"What's the matter?" Grissom asked

"Thought I heard something." I murmured, mostly to myself "Stay alert until we're out of the immediate area." They all nodded and stood up straighter. Nick changed into a cougar and prowled along silently beside me. For a while, the only sounds were our footsteps and breathing, but then I heard a twig crack out of time with our steps. Now I knew there was definitely something there.

"Stop." I held out a hand by my side and everyone froze behind me. I turned around and looked back into the trees, scanning the greenery for anything that didn't belong. Soon, I saw a tuft of dark hair swaying smoothly towards us "I see you." I called to the hair "Come out peacefully and nobody gets hurt."

"Very good." The stranger – the man with they eyes who had held mine for too long – stepped out from the foliage and clapped lightly, mockingly "Though I would have liked to get you a bit farther from the town, this will have to do."

"For what?" I asked, eyeing him cautiously, suddenly hyperaware of the five humans behind me

"What do you think?" he looked over me to them "You brought them in, and I'm taking them out." If the moment hadn't have been so tense, I would have rolled my eyes at the cheesy line.

"You can just keep moving. We're not doing anything against the law, and I'm certainly not going to let you hurt them."

"If you let me, I'll give you half." I glared at the dark haired vampire in front of me. I vaguely recalled seeing him before, but I didn't spend a lot of time in Nefesta. He wasn't acting rationally, of course; his eyes told that story for him. They were pulsing red, and he was smiling, his canines grown out to their maximum length.

"Danuka." Neela moved a few paces forward, a hand held out in front of her, warning him. So that was his name. I didn't recognize it. Maybe I didn't know him after all.

"Get out of the way, Neela." He growled, his eyes fixed on my friends, who were frozen in fear.

"You don't want to get into this."

"Oh, but I do." He sniffed the air and sighed happily "The scent is wonderful. Tell me you're not tempted."

"I can control that side of my nature, thank you very much. Let them go now, and I'll give you something good from my stock, on the house. I promise I will."

"You know it's better when it's fresh. I'm not giving up this opportunity."

"Walk away Danuka." I took a small step closer to him. He jumped back and growled at me, all his teeth exposed. The team tensed behind me, all ready to fight. Grissom was glowing; Greg was on the side, waiting for his moment to shine. Warrick already had a bow in hand, the arrow strung. Nick was, of course, a lion – his strongest form. Catherine was something I hadn't seen before. She was almost pulsing pale pink and white with her power. Since we were all in danger, she had tapped into her magical ability so she could protect us. I hadn't seen her in power before, and I had to admit it was quite stunning. Danuka growled again, and if acting on some unspoken signal, they all sprang at once. Nick was on the vampire's back, digging his claws in hard. Warrick shot the arrow, but it went a centimeter too wide. He restrung his bow, and this time the arrow hit Danuka in the arm. He pulled out the arrow and spat at Warrick, but Catherine shot him hard with a wide stream of pink and white magic before he could act. The shot stunned him, though it didn't hurt him. As he was recovering, Grissom shot another magic wave at him. This set him back another few feet, but it also gave him an edge – an angry drive that made him all the more dangerous. He grabbed Nick's massive shoulders and ripped the lion off his back, throwing him into Warrick. Greg, of course, ran to them both, and since he was undefended and vulnerable, Catherine had to fall back and cover Greg. Grissom stood alone beside me and fired another shot at the vampire. Danuka smoothly stepped out of the line of fire and growled, pushing Grissom back with merely the force of his eyes. If he hadn't have been my enemy, I would have been quite impressed.

"Sara, can you do something, please." Catherine asked quietly, almost whimpering. My eyes flashed back to her for only a second, but for him, that was enough. He launched himself up and over me, landing on top of Warrick. The new warrior tried to fight him off, but had no chance of winning. Danuka smiled menacingly and bent to bite Warrick. His teeth had just grazed my friend's neck when I hit him. I jumped at him from the side and tackled him. He rolled off Warrick and crouched low to the ground, growling deep in his throat. I countered with a loud growl of my own and jumped at him again. He sped out of the way, all the while trying to get closer to the team. I wasn't giving up an inch, and it clearly annoyed him. The wind suddenly shifted, blowing my friends' scent right into his face. I saw him stiffen, and then a sick smile spread over his face. His eyes fixed on them, and he jumped – straight to one side of my path and towards Grissom. That drove me right over the edge. I let a snarl rip through my chest, and the team froze even more – if it was possible to be any less mobile than they already were. I launched myself at Danuka at such a fast speed that I knew I was almost a blur. I thanked my patron goddess that I could twist my abilities, and smiled evilly at him. With my brain overtaken by my vampire senses and reasoning, I was enjoying the fight. I hit him hard from behind and we both rolled in the dirt for a few feet before he sprang away. Now that he had a taste for human blood – he had broken Grissom's skin – he wasn't going to give up the fight. Before he could spring again, I was on top of him, my teeth already piercing his jugular. I felt him stiffen in my hands and his red eyes opened wide. As I drained his blood, his eyes slowly turned hazel, and then chalky. When the last drop was drained from his body, he went limp and I dropped him. I pushed his body away and stood up quickly, staring hungrily at friends, who were suddenly _very_ human. I growled at them, but as soon as I felt the vibration, I froze. After blinking a few times, my rationale was back, and I realized what I had been about to do – and what I had just done. I wiped the blood off my lips with the back of my hand, all the while staring in horror at my team – my friends; the ones who I had just let down.

"I'm sorry." I whispered. Then I ran. Part of me knew that Neela might have a taste for their blood, but the more potent part of me wanted to get away from temptation.

"Sara, wait." I heard Grissom yell from behind me. I picked up speed and tore through the trees, narrowly missing most of them. After what was could have only been a minutes, I was twenty kilometers away from my friends, and out of the way of anybody who might happen upon me. I practically threw myself on the ground, intent on punishing myself through some sort of pain, but when I hit the solid surface, I collapsed into myself and started sobbing.

I was ashamed that I could even think of doing anything harmful to the people who only wanted to help me. They were risking their lives and giving up everything they knew just to help me win a battle that they knew nothing about, and here I was thinking about draining them of their lifeblood. I felt like an ass.

I don't know how long I sat there, my head in my hands, but it was definitely a long time, because soon I heard heavy footsteps close to me. With my excellent hearing, I don't know why I hadn't heard the person coming before. I stood up quickly, intent on defending myself, but I froze when my eyes met Grissom's baby blues. I turned to flee, but he had already grabbed my arm. Damn that man for being so dazzling. The only person who could freeze me in place with his eyes was – of course – the only one who would follow me.

"Let me go." I growled, letting my eyes glow, though this time I was in complete control.

"Sara, please don't run again." He loosened his grip and slid his hand from my forearm to my hand, squeezing it in a gesture that I'm sure was supposed to be comforting. It felt fake to me, like he was trying to push his fear to the back of his mind. I could see it in his eyes – he didn't trust me to keep him safe. He knew I was a threat.

"I'm not going to run." I muttered, swiping at my stray tears with my free hand.

"Aren't you?" he raised an eyebrow, his tone hinting at skepticism. He knew me too well.

"Just leave me alone. Please."

"You know I can't do that."

"It's quite easy." I ripped my hand from his "Just blink twice and I'll be gone."

"I don't want you to leave." The strength of his tone was a bit forced, but I appreciated the effort. I didn't _want_ to run from him, but I knew it was probably more…prudent if I did. "Why did you run?"

"You don't want to know why."

"I think I know part of it." He tilted his neck to the side, revealing the drying blood on his neck.

"That's true." I sighed "You saw how it was for me."

"It didn't seem that way earlier today, or yesterday."

"Yeah, well usually I twist my other powers with my vampire self so the bloodlust is practically absent."

"It wasn't earlier?" I knew that he was just trying to understand, but I didn't want to talk to him about it.

"No. I was a hundred percent vampire." I dropped my head into my hands and sank down on the ground. He crouched down in front of me and looked expectantly at my face.

"Is that a bad thing for you?"

"Yes." I sighed "You saw what happened."

"I did see what happened. You saved my life, Warrick's life, and the lives of the rest of our team."

"I could have killed you. Very, very easily."

"But you didn't." he said gently "That shows you care about us."

"I came so close to killing you and the rest of the team, and maybe even Neela if she stood in my way." Tears started to fall again, and I hated myself for being so emotional "I'm a wretched person."

"Hey, look at me." He put two fingers under my chin and lifted my eyes to his. A very clichéd gesture, but still touching. "You are not a bad person. You saved the lives of five people, and regardless of what you were thinking at the time, you didn't hurt us, or anybody else."

"It doesn't matter; don't you see that? I still killed somebody today. Hand to hand, one on one. I'm a murderer."

"You're a hero." He argued "You were doing what was best for your friends and your rebellion. That's something that's not unique to you."

"I can't keep murdering people." I shook my head unconsciously, standing to look into his endless eyes. For that small moment in time, everything made sense. His gaze locked with mine, and he had the good sense to say nothing.

I had never actually _looked_ into his eyes. They were a dark, ocean blue that went on forever. They seemed to hold every fiber of his being. His brilliance, his sympathy, his passion for justice, his sense of right and wrong; I never wanted to look away from him. I never, ever wanted to let his gaze wander from mine. I wanted to hold him in place forever, and never have to move. I was immortal; I could stand there however long I wanted and never have to move. He would have to move, however, and maybe he would even _want_ to move. He might want to move away from me, break the bond between us that we had just unknowingly built. Suddenly, as the possibility of him _wanting_ to leave me – to willingly walk away – manifested itself, I wanted to hold him here in a completely different way. I wanted to hold him in this spot with me forever, but I wanted it _physically_, not mentally. Well…mentally too, but the physical part was _much_ more prevalent. I was sure that the hunger and want I was feeling flooded my eyes – his expression told me that much. I don't know how it happened, but suddenly I was in his arms. I wasn't sure if it was by my will or his, but we were pressed together, our lips locked. He was definitely a willing participant in the exchange, and I was just happy that he couldn't leave me.

"Sara," he pulled away, breathing hard "wait."

"What?" I pulled away, annoyed

"Why are you doing this?"

"Why do you think?"

"I don't know. You've never acted like this before."

"I know." I sighed and sunk to the ground again "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry for anything." He sat down beside me and pulled me into his lap, uncharacteristically tender for him "You've been going through a lot."

"That's not an excuse." I argued, looking up at him "You have stuff going on too, and you're not going crazy."

"Well, if we're talking about me, I have to apologize to you."

"For what?"

"For being so insensitive."

"What do you mean? You've been great."

"I haven't." he actually looked like he was hiding some very deep regret "I've been so caught up in myself that I haven't been thinking about what you're going through at all."

"That's no reason to feel bad. You've been dealing with new powers and a rebellion that you had no choice but to be in."

"That still doesn't excuse the fact that I've been ignoring you, and I apologize."

"You don't need to." I told him quietly, wrapping my arms around his waist. I appreciated the gesture, no matter how unnecessary it was.

"I think I do."

"Then I accept your apology. And…I'm sorry for abandoning you and the team."

"What are you talking about? You haven't left us alone for a second since we got here."

"But I haven't been there for you morally…emotionally. I just gave you these powers and expected you to deal with them. After the first fight, I admit that training has been the last thing on my mind. I don't know how you're doing so well."

"We're not as helpless as we seem." He smiled down at me "And the others have been helping us."

"I know that, but I just have this feeling that I should be the one guiding you since I brought you into this in the first place."

"You only brought me in. Rhea brought the rest of them." He reminded me

"That's not what I meant. If you had all come here with someone other than me, your lives would be so much easier. Sure, the learning is hard, but you'd have an unlimited amount of time to do it. You wouldn't need to be running around all these realms recruiting magical beings into a rebellion, and you wouldn't be fighting in an age old war. Your lives would be relatively normal."

"So _that's_ why you feel bad?"

"_Exactly_ why." I confirmed with a sigh, resting my head on his chest "I took away the one shred of normalcy you had left."

"We chose to come in on our own accord. You're not responsible."

"You couldn't have left us." I sighed again and wrapped my arms tighter around him. When he heard what I had to say, he probably _would_ want to run away from me. I wasn't going to stop him, but I wanted to hold him there as long as I could.

"Why not?"

"We wouldn't have let you." He was about to say something, but I held up one hand to silence him "We couldn't have left you alone in any one of these realms possessing the information you did."

"None of us would have ever betrayed you."

"I know that you wouldn't willingly, but everything here doesn't happen by personal will. If the Ruler had even a small suspicion that something was going awry, he would've found you, and he would've asked you all about the rebellion, right down to the most insignificant details."

"I would lie. We all would."

"You can't lie in front of the Ruler." I told him, all the while wishing it were that easy "He has ways of making you tell him things. Ways that wouldn't even be imaginable in the mortal realms."

"Like what?"

"The things he does to you are so horrible that they have no name, because there aren't words to describe the experience. The pain…the torture. He takes small details from your life and uses them against you. He'll take entire families and do such terrible things to them that you _want_ to die, if only just to stop seeing the image before you." I felt him shudder, and my body shook with his.

"You still shouldn't feel bad." He said when he regained his composure "This isn't your fault."

"It is, though, Grissom." I closed my eyes "In more ways than you can ever understand."

"Explain them to me."

"The explanation takes too much time. Time we don't have."

"We can take as long as you want."

"No, we can't. We've got to get back to everyone else."

"Why can't you tell me on the way?"

"The reasons why it's my fault take years of experience to comprehend."

"I have experience."

"For you to really understand what I'm saying – to truly comprehend the situation and what I'm feeling – you'd need centuries of experience in a field whose surface you haven't even begun to skim. You have to wait. I could tell you, in time, but we don't have forever, and forever is what it would take." I added the last part about forever glumly. It was true that we weren't always going to be the way we were now – so close with all walls down. We'd go back to Vegas – that is, if we made it out of the battle alive, which was a big if – and he would once again be my superior. The walls would go back up, and this would be but a distant memory – an errant thought only brought up on days when everything else seemed lost. That wasn't enough for me. It wasn't enough that he felt this way today, in this moment. He would have to feel this way for centuries upon centuries for me to trust him enough with the way I was really feeling. I knew that he thought he understood, that he thought he knew it all. The truth was that I was editing a lot out for his benefit – he didn't deserve to feel as rotten as I did. I had met very few people that I could truly trust, and sadly he wasn't one of them – not yet, and probably not ever if he stayed mortal.

"Come on." I murmured, standing up and taking his hand "We really should get back to everyone else.

"Alright." He took my hand and started walking slowly back. I didn't mind the slow speed; just spending time with him was enough for now.

"You know," he started after a long silence that somehow wasn't awkward in any way "You really can tell me anything."

"I told you Grissom; I'd need time that we don't have. I'm sorry." And I really was sorry. I could tell that he sincerely wanted me to open up to him; that he wanted to comfort me in every way that he could and maybe ease some of the burden he knew I was feeling.

"You can take as much time as you want. You may not think so, but we have forever." His statement was unusual in two very big ways: It was heartfelt, which, for him was rare, and it was also very cryptic; another rare quality since he usually supported any sentence with evidence.

"I don't think you understand the situation here." I argued, trying to make him understand exactly how different we still were "I'm immortal and you're not. I can live until someone kills me – and trust me, that's not easy. I can change my appearance, my mind, my experiences to fit any age, and that means I can go on forever and ever without serious repercussions. You, however, are mortal. Your days are measured in numbers and years, while mine are measured in centuries and lifetimes. Our time will be up one day, and it's better to live as we are right now. We don't have forever, no matter how much you think we do, and no matter how much I wish we did. I'm sorry."

"Well then," he was clearly taken aback at my rather lengthy and heavy speech "We'll just have to make do with the forever we have. _Our_ forever. It might not be the same forever you're thinking of, but to a mortal like myself, it's all I can picture. Could we just live with that?"

"I don't know. Maybe." I shook my head, trying futilely to clear it "It's just difficult, what with us being so different."

"No matter how different we may be as people, Sara, and no matter how different our definitions of forever may be, for me, you're the only one, and I think it's the same for you. _That_, at least, is the same."

"Grissom, don't do this now. We have enough to think about." I was actually fighting back tears, though I hid it well. His little speech had me stunned, and it was touching. I always knew he cared about me, but not like this. I had never pictured his feelings being _anything_ like this.

"Regardless of what you might want to think, I can assure you of one thing." He took my face in his and locked our gazes, not that I would have ever dreamed of looking elsewhere. My heart was soaring and I was sure my eyes were full of complex emotions. When he didn't say anything, I placed a hand gently on his chest and let it linger there.

"What thing?" I asked, my breathing ragged

"That I am yours forever." His eyes shone with truth, and I couldn't have doubted him if I had tried "No matter whose version of forever it is." With that having been said, he bent down and kissed me, and I knew that it went without saying that I was his forever as well.

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**A/N: Sorry about any mistakes. They're mine, but I wrote the majority of this chapter half-asleep, so I might have missed a few things I would have otherwise caught. I sort of opened Grissom up in here (Sara too) and I'm not sure how I did. How'd you like it? Please review and tell me what you thought!**


	14. Top of the World

**A/N: This chapter is from Grissom's POV. For the rest of the story, I think I might be changing POVs in each chapter, and I'll probably switch from first to third person narration a lot, but don't worry, I'll try to do it tastefully so it doesn't get confusing. Tell me what you think of the POV change, because I'm still not sure. If you're unhappy about the lack of action in this chapter, don't worry, it's coming back. I just had a flood of insight into Grissom's mind, and I got a request for Grissom's POV, so I had to fill a chapter with him. Sorry it's so short. Unfortuantely, fanfic isn't the only thing I have to do tonight =/ Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed! I've gotten the most reviews per chapter than I ever have for any story before, so I'm very happy. **

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I felt like I was on top of the world.

I don't know what had changed between us. In essence, nothing had. I still felt the same way for her that I had since I first laid eyes on her, and I knew she had always felt strongly for me. Even though the building itself hadn't changed, the way I looked at it had. She and I had always been close – always felt strongly for eachother, though we had kept our feelings at bay mostly because of our jobs. Okay, I was lying to myself. She had never held back the way I had. She had asked me out to dinner countless times, and I had always turned her down. She had talked to me, and confessed her feelings, but I had always kept her at arms length. It was something I had always feared would push her away into the arms of another. It was a miracle she had waited for me. I felt like the luckiest man alive, walking through a beautiful forest, though it couldn't hold a candle to the beauty of the woman who I had my arm around. She seemed content to walk along, her side pressed against mine, neither one of us speaking. That was good. It gave me time to think. Though I was somewhat ashamed that I felt the need to analyze what had just happened, I knew it was something I had always done to understand things.

I think that the principal turning point for our relationship was when we both decided to really open up. I had never told her how I really felt before. Sure, she knew I enjoyed her company, and I think she suspected that there was something more there, but I had always made it clear that we were colleagues, and therefore could never act otherwise. Now, though, in these magical realms, we weren't really colleagues anymore. If we were speaking in a sense of government, our current group situation would be a monarchy. She would be the leader, and we would be her subjects. We couldn't overrule her, like my team could to me if we were at work. Granted, all together we were a bigger number than just her – a solitary person – and physically speaking we could take her, but we all knew we had no choice but to follow her. She was helping us along, explaining the realm, about our powers, and keeping us all in line. Sure, she was small standing alone, but she was powerful. We would never dare cross her. When I stopped seeing her as my subordinate, I started seeing her as I wanted to see her – as a companion.

I figured that since there were no longer repercussions, I could explain to her how special she was. It was convenient that she needed someone to be there for her at the very moment I got my confidence back. It was also a miracle that she decided to take me as her companion, her partner, even though I had pushed her away more times than I cared to remember. I loved her, and I knew she loved me, and that was all that really mattered for us now. There weren't any ultimatums hanging over our head from Ecklie, there weren't any lab policies to follow…it was glorious, how I could take her into my arms any time I wanted and have her respond without having to care who saw or who they told. I believe that right then and there I was truly blissful.

As I continued to think about Sara, I thought about how she looked. Not in a shallow you're-a-size-6-and-I-want-a-size-2 sense, but in a more I-can't-believe-how-lucky-I-am-to-have-such-an-amazing-lover sense. I glanced down at her to find her looking up at me. I smiled and kissed her lightly on the lips, and then went back to thinking. She still looked like a vampire, which wasn't a bad thing. I loved how she looked before, but this was a whole new ball game. Never before had I seen someone so radiant, so…flawless. I had never judged based on beauty before; in fact, I thought it was a horrendous thing to do, but now I see how most men can look at someone and see only skin deep. Sara like this was even more desirable, though if I hadn't seen it I would have had trouble believing it.

She was moonlight pale, had strange dark red eyes and wore her dark hair layered. She had changed so much from the woman I thought I knew, but she still wasn't different, because even though I did enjoy her appearance, I saw more that skin deep. Her eyes, though that strange colour, were still like staring into a bottomless pit that led right into her soul. The intelligence was still there, the inquisitive characteristics that I liked so much. She was still strong and independent, though the air about her had changed, like it was fused with power. When I thought about power, that dragged me back to my memories of when I had first seen her as a true vampire, and even as far back to when I had seen her as a full mage.

If I had learned anything from Heather, it was that in any relationship there was a dominant and a submissive. I had always thought I would be wearing the pants in any relationship that I had, I guess a product of the responsibilities in my job. I was so used to being in charge that I couldn't see it any other way. However, when I had seen her in her powerful forms, charged with magic and strength, I knew I belonged beneath her, and strangely, I wanted to be beneath her.

I wanted her to tell me what to do, and I wanted to obey even the most ridiculous order. If she had told me to kneel on the ground and bark like I dog I would have, because the image of her and I together like _this_ wasn't complete unless she was above me. I knew I couldn't begin to explain my feelings even to myself, in my head. I just saw her, as powerful as she was, and something inside me tingled. It knew that she was naturally powerful – I think a part of me always knew that there was something more to her than what met the eye – and I couldn't imagine taking that away from her. It just added so much to the overall image of her. Strong, powerful, completely in control…it fit her.

Until I saw her like this, I had thought she was complete. At least to me, she used to be the complete image of a woman. Now that I saw her other side – her hidden one – I knew how much of that image I had been missing. I sighed. She was never meant to be a follower, never meant to be a subordinate. She was meant to _lead_, like she was now.

I never truly understood how much was missing from her life; I don't even think she did. Like this, she thrived. She was amazing and powerful and beautiful and completely in her element. I knew we all saw it; how she was at work versus how she was here. Everyone noticed the difference, but I was the only one _really_ thinking about it. I'd have to do something about her. Maybe I'd promote her as high as I could alone. No…that wouldn't be enough. I mentally struggled, trying to dig up some position that would be good enough for her. The only one I could think of was president, but that job wasn't open. I realized sadly that this was what she was best at. Not being a CSI, not being my girlfriend, but this.

Being the leader of a group of magical beings was her calling, and it was the only thing that would ever be worthy of her. I felt like a child again. Finding something wonderful that was just for you, but realizing that it didn't last. I even sounded like a child. My thoughts were never like this. Never this disjointed, never this…cynical, and certainly never this juvenile sounding. She truly was getting to me. I wondered briefly how I would do without her, how I would fare when she made the choice to stay here.

I would stay with her, but I knew I wouldn't be happy, and neither would she. We were meant to exist separately. She was meant to stay here, being magical and powerful and extraordinary, whereas I was meant to live in the mortal realms, where everything had an explanation, and every question had an answer. I couldn't stay here, miserable, and make her miserable. Just like that, I had made the decision. It was like flipping a switch inside my brain. I would spend what little time we had here together, and then when she chose to stay, I would go and let her live happily.

Even if I couldn't be with her, making her happy myself, I would always have that little spot of my heart that would be forever warm and fuzzy knowing that she was happy and where she needed to be. That, at least, would keep me sane. I sighed again, not sure how I would manage to justify leaving her. Even what I had now was a weak reason. It wouldn't keep me away for long.

"Are you alright?" she asked me softly. I hadn't realized that my eyes were closed and that we weren't moving until I had to snap them open

"I'm fine." I assured her, smiling warmly and genuinely "Just thinking."

"You're always thinking." She teased, pouting comically.

"I have to think to stay two steps ahead of you all the time." I joked back. God, I was never this cavalier at home.

"You know, you could just stop thinking and let me take over." That was tempting. It was almost as if she could read my mind. Wait…she was everything, wasn't she? Oh good lord, what if she heard me?

"Are you a mind reader?" I blurted out. She looked confused at the direction the conversation had suddenly taken, but took it in stride

"No, I'm not."

"I thought you said if I could name it, you could become it."

"Physically, I can become anything. Mind reading is purely mental. It's a skill you have to be born with, or given by an extremely powerful goddess. It can't be learned like sword fighting or magic. Some people have it, some people don't."

"Ah." I relaxed. It would have been quite embarrassing if she had heard my thoughts, or seen the things I had been seeing in my mind.

"Why do you ask?"

"Just thinking about you."

"What a coincidence, I was thinking about you as well." God, I was lucky. Here I was with the perfect woman who loved me as I loved her, and I didn't even deserve it.

"Really? What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking about how much I enjoy this, us being together." She twined our fingers together as if to illustrate her point "How about letting me into that mind of yours?"

"I was thinking much the same as you were."

"Oh come on. You were quiet for fifteen minutes. You had to be thinking about more than just that."

"No, that's it." I continued walking, pulling her gently with me.

"There had to be something else." She looked at me with those big eyes of hers and gave me one of her signature smiles

"Well, I was also thinking about just how deeply I am in love with you." I smiled down at her and kissed her again, marveling once more at the beautiful creature with whom I was unconditionally in love. I was getting a handle on my powers, the rebellion as going smoothly, and my heart belonged to the most amazing woman in the world. It seemed as if, now, _everything_ was perfect.

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**A/N: Hope you enjoyed that. Ignore any mistakes, I didn't have time to re-read it for in depth editing, but I had to post it. So, yeah, please R&R and tell me how you think I wrote Grissom's thoughts. Any constructive criticism is welcome.**


	15. Chapter 15

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Everything had been going great.

Grissom and Sara were closer than ever; they had all been walking for days without an interruption, and had even made time to stop for training. Sara watched each of her friends work on their skills, and found herself pleasantly surprised at the progress they had made without her help. She had even had time to practice her skills a bit with Mato, but that had been cut short because, of course, nothing could stay simple for long.

The first hint of a problem was when they had made a brief stop in a small village called Sivaowik (siv-ay-oh-wik). Usually the early morning village would have been teeming with life; That day, however, it was deader than a ghost-town.

"Sara, I don't like this." Rhea had been the first to sense something amiss, but one of Violet's warriors had laughed.

"They're probably all still asleep." He had pointed to the sun – still low in the sky "It's not like we're here at noon."

"Yeah, and what is it, Sunday?" Greg had agreed

"We don't have days off here." Violet explained, looking at the barren main street cautiously "There are usually people out here."

"Who'd be out at this hour?" Warrick yawned

"You work nights. Stop complaining." Sara snapped "And to answer your question, some of us, depending on our skill, prefer night to day. Those are the people who would be out. Just because we're not the same as the mortal realms doesn't mean we operate in primitive hours."

"Sorry." He muttered

"Let's just pass through and keep going." Violet suggested "Even if we are just being overly cautious, getting a day ahead of our schedule won't be a bad thing."

"Agreed." Jordan nodded along with Sara's words

"Does anybody want to know what the rest of us think?" Greg asked. It sounded like he wanted it to come out like a joke, but he sounded serious.

"No." Sara, Rhea and Jordan said at once, already on the move. Greg mumbled something unintelligible to himself and followed. They were almost out of town when two figures, a man and a woman, stepped out in front of them. They were both wearing tunics and leggings, the woman's tunic in a dark purple and the man's in a deep blue. They both had on black leggings and grey cloaks with the hoods down. The right breast of each cloak bore the red, orange, blue and black crest of the Ruler. They smiled in unison, the light of the sun shining off their sword blades. The Ruler didn't employ any mages, because he thought that their magic would taint their loyalty, and they would turn on him. He did, however, employ the best warriors in the realms. These two were clearly some of the best – that was apparent in their stance and grip of their weapons. The turned, the metallic threads in the crest shimmering in the weak light.

"We've been waiting a long time for you." The man said, his tone ominous

"Yes, it's really too bad that we're going to have to kill you before you can complete your mission." The woman grinned wider and brought her sword up. Sara almost smiled. Poor woman had no idea what she was dealing with. There were eleven of the rebels, and two of Ruler's guard. They would have them finished in seconds.

"Stay where you are." Sara said to her team "Jordan, Rhea…" they came to stand beside her and she turned her attention back to the rest of them, "Don't move, don't try to help us; you'll just get in the way." She had said it all within a few seconds and hoped they caught it. It was a risk that someone would try to be the hero and get in their way, but it was a bigger risk to stand still, almost waiting for the guard to act. Luckily, the Ruler taught almost…theatrical battle tendencies to his guard, and they stood, smirking, while Sara talked.

Having heard everything that Sara had said, the team and the rest of the rebels stepped back, leaving Sara, Jordan and Rhea exposed in a small but united front. The man from the Ruler's guard smiled and raised a finger, beckoning them to the fight. Sara sighed and shook her head, a small smile overtaking her expressions. Rhea's smile was the same – peaceful and a bit superior. Jordan looked slightly more nervous, but she was ready.

"Bring it on." The woman straightened her sword so it was diagonal across her torso. Sara almost laughed at the theatrics of their attack. It was so over the top it was almost a joke.

"You asked for it." Sara muttered, giving into the showy pre-battle razzing. Within less than three seconds, Sara had twisted all her powers into themselves until even she didn't know what was what. All she did know was that it made her more powerful than anyone except the Ruler himself.

Like the well seasoned warriors they were, the two guard members didn't freeze like other fighters might have, but their reactions were so slow they might as well not have had any at all. Sara moved faster than Jordan or Rhea, and she sent a massive shimmering shot towards the man and the woman. It wasn't a normal wave of magic – it was laced with an abnormal pattern and involved every colour or the rainbow. The two warriors just ceased to exist, but they had underestimated the power of the Ruler. As soon as the man and the woman were defeated, a swarm of warriors, their outfits all bearing the same crest, surrounded the group. Sara froze. The guard was surrounding them from all sides, their swords drawn and shining. Sara would have blasted them away, but they were all wearing body armour made of amethyst, the only gem that blocked and voided all types of mental magic.

"Now would be a very good time to move." She said slowly, turning to face the rest of her warriors for the smallest of seconds. That was enough. As co-ordinated as they were, the entire group sprang to action simultaneously, taking on the task that would best suit their abilities. Warrick, the warrior, targeted a good portion of the guards with the amethyst armour in front. Nick, Felina and Violet's warriors took the rest of the amethyst armoured guards. Now that the magic blocks were gone, it was time for the rest of them to shine. Sara hung back for a moment - as strategically stupid as that was - to watch her warriors fight. True, she had seen them practicing, but battle tactics are different when you're against people you like. Now, against true enemies, their true talents broke through.

First, Sara studied Nick. He was fighting in the form of a leopard - sharp claws and teeth; strong, wiry muscles; and incomparable speed. It was a good choice, and that in itself showed how good he had gotten, if only just in strategy. He was on top of two warriors at once, tearing at their skin with his teeth. His claws had already made short work of their armour, and their weapons were off to the side. Now the two men were just trying to shield their faces - they had lost the offensive position. He was finished with those two quickly, and Sara watched him leap over to land on the back of another guard. His jump was graceful - not awkward and uncoordinated like many young shape shifters she had seen. He truly was very good.

She then turned to Catherine. The blonde was all business, standing attentively in front of Greg and Rain, who was too weak to fight. Catherine was glowing faintly pink and white with the power of her guarding magic, completely prepared. A guard turned to her, and before he even took a step forward, she glared at him, pointed a finger, and he stiffened before dropping to the ground in a heap. Catherine smiled slightly, proud of herself, and turned her attention back to the battle. Sara stared at the guard for a moment, but it was apparent that he wasn't getting back up. That surprised her even more. Usually guardians had sissy powers - nothing truly strong enough to take out a person for long. Clearly, Catherine was something special.

Warrick didn't even need scrutiny, but Sara gave it anyways. He was spinning, ducking, jumping and moving so fluidly that it looked like he was a leaf in the wind - a leaf with a very strong sword arm, but a leaf nonetheless. He was moving so quickly that very few of the guards could even follow him. They were spinning around, trying to keep track of him, and they looked like dogs chasing their tails. Sara chuckled, watching her friend move. He sliced the arm cover off one guard's armour, and then took off the arm to go with it. Sara winced, still smiling. He was progressing nicely with his skills, and the way he switched between bow, sword and tensente was very natural looking. He was quite professional in his movements, making them look seemless; that was a difficult skill to master.

Sara was about to turn to Grissom when she heard a yelp behind her. She whirled around in time to see Nick rip a guard's throat out. His shoulder was bleeding heavily, and he limped over to Greg. If a shapeshifter had an injury, they couldn't switch back to their normal form without seriously draining their energy. Sara knew little about heaing, but she did know that it took a very good healer to work on a distressed animal. She was about to tell Mato to call back Arana - his sister and an incomparable healer - but Greg caught her attention. He was looking down at Nick, a thoughtful expression on his face. He touched Nick experimentally, a faint yellow and blue glow swelling from his hand. Sara moved a step closer, still in the shadows of the buildings where nobody could see her, and watched her friend work.

Greg looked up at the sky unconciously, trying to remember something. His face lit up when whatever it was came to him, and he turned back to Nick. Worlessly, as not to draw attention to them, he placed both his hands on Nick's leopard shoulder and closed his eyes. The swell of glowing yellow-blue magic pulsed from his hands, and Nick's entire body shone with it. After a solid minute, Greg opened his eyes. They shone with something that wasn't there before - power and pride. Nick stretched his arm experimentally and flashed Gregwhat could only have been a smile when he realized that he could walk again. He jumped up, landing squarely on all four paws and tore back to the battle, waving his tail at Greg as he dissapeared. Sara's jaw was practically on the ground. They had only been in the realms a couple of weeks, and Greg was already progressing at an advanced rate - they all were.

She turned to Grissom - the one she was most worried about. It was true that her team was progressing at an amazing rate, but black magic - something Grissom unknowingly posesed - was hard to harness, even harder to learn to use, and almost impossible to master. Rhea could master it because she was born with it, and Sara could because she was so powerful already. Grissom, on the other hand, was new at everything involving magic. He didn't know what he was doing normal magic - white magic - let alone the darker of the magics. Following the battle into the forest as it moved, she loked for Grissom, her eyes registering images of all her other warriors as they fought - Jordan, Rhea, Violet, Mato, all of Violet's warriors, Felina and Dwight.

She finally found Grissom near the back of the battle. He was locked in combat with three of the guards, none of them giving an inch. His blue-brown magic was being fired at them in small bursts of power, stunning them for short moments before becoming ineffective. Sara hesitated, unsure of whether to help him or continue watching. After a moments hesitation, she leapt silently onto a tree branch te\wenty or so feet above the battle. The higher ground position was one of extreme strategy, but hard to gain unless you were comfortable in trees or on roofs. Sara crouched there, perfectly balanced, and looked down to Grissom and the warriors he was fighting. The Ruler's warriors were gaining ground slowly, moving forward the second before any of his shots hit them, gaining such minute ammounts of ground that Grissom didn't even notice that they were getting closer. It was only a matter of time until they were withing 'slashing distance' - the right distance away that they could attack using only the tips of their swords. Sara sighed. Grissom was powerful - that much she knew - but, with the kind of power he had, he would need training that he just hadn't been getting. They were going to have to work together to defeat these opponents. She was toying with the idea of disguising her magic, and turning it into his colours so he felt good about himself, but before she could something on the ground changed.

The guards were just within slashing distance, and they all brought their swords up, taking firm grips. Grissom didn't look nervous when he realized that their enemies were just feet from him. He looked....calculating. Sara almost completely forgot her plan as she studied his face. The guards brought up their swords, raising them above their heads for maximum momentum, but Grissom was ready. He produced a ball of magic and rolled it around in the air until it was a thin, sharp, hard string. He then split it into three and waved it over to the guards. The entire process took the smallest fraction of a second, and suddenly the guards didn't have heads. Their decapitated bodies fell to the ground in sync with one another, and their swords hit together with a metallic clanking sound. Grissom didn't pause to look at the fallen warriors, but moved on deeper into the battle. Sara shook her head, laughing silently in disbelief.

_Sar? We need you down here. _Jordan projected her urgent thoughts into Sara's head. It seemed that another flood of guards had joined the battle, outnumbering them five to one. They were lead by a very burly, hard muscled warrior that Sara remembered as being pompous and cocky.

_Coming down. _She launched herself from her branch to another directly above the largest mass of guards. She closed her eyes and concentrated on identifying her powers. She felt around inside herself for a feeling that she knew very little about, but knew how to work. When she sensed the light that went along with the feeling, she harnessed it and pushed it to the forefront of her mind. When she opened her eyes, she could only see a faint outline of herself. What she had done was change the colour and texture of her skin so she blended in with the tree she was sitting on. As soon as she knew that she couldn't be seen, she let her power flood all her senses and started taking out warriors down below. Their deaths weren't showy or anything particularly special. One moment they were there, the next their clothes, armour and weapons fell to the ground with the body once filling them out just ceasing to exist.

One warrior - a fairly experienced one by the looks of him - looked up into the trees and squinted. He was one of those wearing anethyst studded armour, so all she could do was shy into the branches and hope that he didn't see her. She moved quickly, keeping her eyes on the group and him at the same time. She had gained about three feet when she made a mistake - a very rookie mistake, but there was nothing she could do about it after the fact. She moved back so fast that she missed the branch she had been aiming for and stepped on a much smaller one. It broke and she grabbed the branch above her head to keep from falling. It didn't matter if she fell or not now, becasue her center of balance was thrown off and in the process fo grabbing the branch, she had made too much noise. The warrior who had been looking at the tree found her and grabbed his bow fluidly. He pulled back the bowstring and shot an arrow at her too fast for her to avoid. The tip shone purple and orange, but it took her too long to piece together what that meant.

The arrow hit her, lodging itself in her upper arm. She felt something expand, and then there was a stabbing pain in her arm - emmiting waves of pain throughout the inside of her body. She gasped and grabbed her arm, unthinking. As soon as her hand was off the branch that was steadying her, she tottered and lost her footing, falling down through the trees. The thirty foot drop didn't register in her mind. The only thing that did was the ache in her body that was only getting worse. She crashed through the last layer of branches and landed right on top of the big warrior who had lead the second wave of guards in. She heard his neck snap under her, but she didn't care. Jordan was by her side in a flash, the rest of them continuing to battle the guards.

"What happened?" She whispered urgently, then saw the arrow "There's an arrow in your arm?" Even though she could clearly see it, Jordan was confused. Sara was one of the most powerful out of their entire group. Only Mato and Ammariah surpassed her in that area. Jordan had never seen Sara get hit with anything if she was trying to avoid it.

"I don't know." Sara gasped "But we have to get out of here." She looked over at the battle. When Sara had fallen, the rest of her warriors had looked over and been distracted. The guards had used that oppertunity to their advantage and were gaining ground, and by the looks on her friends' faces this wasn't their plan of action. The battle was turning, and they were losing.

"If we run, they'll follow. Only you, Warrick, Nick and Felina are faster than they are."

"I didn't mean run, I meant go back to the mortal realms."

"It's too much of a risk," Jordan argued, keeping her eyes on the fight while helping Sara up "The Ruler'll catch us when we come back in."

"It's a risk we have to take." Sara said, her voice ringing with authority. She pushed her magic throughout her entire body, almost whimpering in pain. It was like shooting fire through her veins it was so painful. She concentrated on all her warriors and coated them in her green-blue magic. She felt the biggest drain she had ever felt in her life, but she managed to get all of them and yanked them all into the between-realm vortex. The vortex pulled people through all the realms in the world, and somehow knew where they wanted to go. It was strange but very useful. Halfway through the vortex, Sara lost her hold on everyone, and they jerked out of it within seconds.

They were now standing in knee deep snow.

"This definitley isn't Vegas." Catherine murmured, looking around at the snow covered trees.

"This isn't a mortal realm either." Mato said, looking over at Sara carefully. She was leaning on Jordan with her eyes screwed shut "We're in Madlanna - the coldest realm of them all."

"Of course." Violet rolled her eyes and sighed "Oh well, at least we're not in Caprety."

"Mmm. That'd be bad." Rain agreed.

"I vote we find somewhere to stay and figure out what's wrong with her." Jordan looped an arm around Sara's waist and pulled her into a more vertical position "She's not staying up for long."

"Agreed." Mato nodded and lead them all forward, Rhea on his tail. They waded through the waist deep snow until they were in a denser part of the forest. The snow here was only ankle deep and easier to walk in. After fifteen minutes, people started getting tense.

"Are we going to be out here much longer?" Violet asked "They could sneak up on us in here."

"I don't think the Ruler will have noticed us changing within the realms. He'll be watching for a change from the mortal realms. As for shelter..." he closed his eyes and pressed his fingers to his temples, sending out orange and yellow beams that looked like sonar. He opened his eyes and smiled tightly "We're close to a cave."

"Good." Jordan wrapped her arm around Sara again, and started moving. Sara didn't lift her feet. "Mato, we lost her." she sighed and hoisted Sara onto her back "She's out cold."

"She still breathing?"

"Laboured, but yeah she is." Jordan's eyes flickered over to Greg, and Mato noticed

"I wouldn't risk letting him at her when we don't know what the problem is. Wait until we stop, then I'll get Ara back." Jordan nodded

"Sounds like a plan."

* * *

The cave was farther from them than Mato had thought, and by the time they finally reached it, the forest was lit by the light of the night's full moon.

"Shame that she's out." Jordan murmured, looking up at the sky "She'd love this."

"Why?" Grissom asked from farther back in the cave, nearest to Sara

"Her power's at its peak at night. Full moons give her a lot of strength."

"It's no use." Ara said, walking over to Jordan and interrupting their conversation. Mato had summoned his healer sister the moment they had stopped, and she had been working on Sara for nearly an hour. She looked exhausted.

"Do you mean this is it for her!?" Tears sprang unwillingly to Jordan's eyes "We lost her for good!?"

"No, no." Ara's eyes grew wide as she realized what her words could have meant "But we're going to if we don't get someone over here fast."

"What!? Why!?"

"I'm just not powerful enough to help her. As far as I can tell, the arrow in her arm is eating away at her power, and soon she'll be nothing."

"Could we switch her back to her mortal form so there's no magic to lose?" If a mage lost all of their magic while they were in their magical form, they would die in both their magical and mortal form. Even Sara, the immotal, wouldn't be able to survive without her magic, which was what kept her from dying completely in normal circumstances.

"I've already tried that." Ara shook her head "That would require magic - both hers and mine - and whatever that arrow's made of is blocking it. I can't change her into anything. I'm just not that good."

"Who could we get that is powerful enough?"

"The only thing I can think of is getting a divine to try it. I could talk them through what they'd need to do."

"Ammariah would do it without thinking." Mato chimed in, suddenly standing behind them "I could have her here in moments."

"Get her." Ara agreed "This had better work."

"What happens if it doesn't?" Catherine's voice was quiet, but the question was one that was echoing through the minds of everyone in the rebellion.

"Then we lose her." Ara said grimly

"And therefore lose the rebellion." Mato added

"And sentence everyone in the realms to a certain death."

"Wait..." Greg asked, hearing the double meaning to her words "_All_ the realms? Even the mortal one?"

"Yes." Ara nodded "Thus bringing about the end of the world."

* * *

A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! Hope you liked this one. You probably have a pretty good idea of what to do now, but I'll give you a hint. It involves the purple coloured button with green text just below. Thanks for reading!


	16. Chapter 16

"We have a serious problem." Ammariah said, looking down at Sara for the tenth time since she had shown up. As Mato had promised, she had come as soon as he had called, and was happy to help Sara. The only issue? She wasn't powerful enough to do anything.

"What's going on with this arrow?" Ara asked "Can you at least determine that?"

"As far as I can see, the arrowhead is made of amethyst and amber." Everyone but the team took in sharp breaths at the same time.

"What does that mean?" Nick asked, now in his human form.

"Amethyst blocks all types of normal magic, like the kinds used for healing. Amber saps the magic the person has from their body until there isn't any left. If we don't get that arrow out, she's going to die very soon, and there's nothing any of us will be able to do to stop it."

"Why don't we pull the arrow out?"

"Because the head is special. When the arrow hits a target, the head opens up, making almost three times its original size and rendering it virtually impossible to pull out without seriously harming the person it's in."

"So what are our options?" Ara asked, running a hand though her hair "There has to be something we can do for her."

"The only thing I can think of is surgically removing the arrow." Mato offered

"I'd be hesitant to try that with her lack of magic." Ammariah argued "If anything goes wrong, she'll die much like a mortal would, and few of our surgeons have the equipment or the skills to operate without magic or a magical patient." The Ruler had forbidden the use of any mortal equipment for medical purposes, so usually the patient used their magic in place of the purpose any mortal technology would have offered.

"Couldn't you find someone more powerful to try?" Grissom asked from the rear of the assembled group.

"There's nobody more powerful than a divine except for the Ruler, and we're definitley not asking _him_ for help." Ara growled the Ruler's name and swore under her breath "I just don't see what else we can do."

"Wait." Everyone turned to Jordan as she spoke "There is someone who might be able to help."

"Who?" Ammariah, Mato and Ara said at once, leaning towards Jordan.

"Well...I can't say her name out loud in fear of alerting the Ruler, but think about it..." she pointed outside "Sara's most powerful at _night_, there's a full moon out, it's almost the darkest point in the evening, and I can't say the person's name outright."

"The inability to speak a name is an indicator of extreme power." Ammariah muttered to herself, thinking.

"Wait..." Mato's eyes lit up "You're talking about..."

"Her major." Jordan nodded "It's honestly our last chance to help her."

"Alright." Ammariah sighed "I'll go talk to her." For the first time since they had met her, the Goddess looked scared. As a general rule divines never looked scared since they were immortal and, of course, everyone usually respected them.

"Tell her we need her tonight." Ara warned, once again seated by Sara's side "We don't have that long until this goes sour." Ammariah nodded and dissapeared in a fine green mist.

* * *

The entire group was on pins and needles waiting for the return of Ammariah. Jordan was pacing the room, something she had been doing since the goddess left; Ara was wringing her hands next to Sara, looking over at her friend every two minutes; Mato seemed to be frozen in place, staring at his sister and Sara with a tortured expression on his face. Everyone else was literally in chaos since they had found out that the death of Sara meant the end of the world as they knew it. The entire situation had been explained to them:

The Ruler kept the war going because he was half demon, and demons live off bloodshed and fear. The only catch? They couldn't spill the blood themselves. They could take a secondary role and make others shed the blood, which was why the Ruler was so powerful - there were so many people shedding the blood of others that it was enough to feed all the demons and still keep him so strong that he was the most powerful being in the realms. The war would have been on a bigger scale, but the Ruler knew about the prophecy and kept it toned down in fear of awakening 'The One.' If Sara died, he would know. Nobody quite knew how he would know, but they were told it was by instinct. The moment that the Ruler knew that The One had come and gone without harming him, he would kick the war into overdrive, involving every single realm - magical or not. Since mortals were seen as weak to the Ruler, they would be the first to go, and the world would turn into a barren, warring wasteland until it just ceased to exist. That was why Sara needed to live so badly. Nobody, no matter how powerful they were, could ever take her place because she was truly the only One.

"What seems to be the problem?" A new female voice rang throughout the cave. Everyone turned around in time to see her materialize from a dark blue and white light that dissapeared when she, Ammariah, and two men were all in the cave. Everyone knelt instantly. The team wasn't sure why they felt the need to kneel, but something about this new woman made standing while she was in the room impossible. When nobody answered her, she sighed and flicked her wrist, motioning for them to stand.

"Why have you summoned me?" she asked, in the clear cadence of a goddess.

"It's Sara." Mato explained, taking a tentitive step forward "She was hit with an arrow in a battle, and we're unable to remove it, or to magically alter it in any way. The head is made of pure amethyst and amber."

"Ah." she smiled concernedly "And you don't have enough power to fix this yourself."

"I've tried and our more experienced healer has tried. Neither of us are powerful enough - even together." Ammariah said from the back, bowing as the new woman looked towards her.

"You're lucky that this is a full moon." she said, cracking her knuckles. She waved to the men that had come with her - both very tall and dressed in cream tunics and dark blue legging; One with dark brown skin, and one with a light toffee coloured complexion. "Sit down boys, we're going to be a while." The woman knelt down beside Sara, and Ara gave up her spot. She placed her glowing hands on Sara's arm, legs and face, testing for something.

"Who is she?" Catherine asked Jordan quietly, trying not to interrupt the new goddess's examination of their friend.

"I can't tell you." Jordan whispered back "If I speak her name aloud, the Ruler will know, and he'll get mighty suspicious."

"Who _can_ speak her name?"

"Sara and any other deity."

"Shhh." Ara whispered "Let her concentrate." The woman had one hand resting above Sara's heart, and another in the edge of her wound. They were both glowing midnight blue and white, and after an immesurable moment the arrow shaft loosened. The woman smiled to herself and removed the shaft, plunging her finger deeper into Sara's wound. Everyone winced, mortal or otherwise. After another seemingly endless moment, the woman leaned back and smiled. Sara's eyes slowly fluttered open and she groaned.

--------

The first thing Sara saw when she opened her eyes was a woman's face. Though she had only seen the woman a handful of times in her life, her face was familiar. She had curiously dark hair and dark blue and white sunburst eyes. She was wearing a midnight blue dress with a white triangle stretching from the hem to the waist of the dress. The wrists, waist, neckline and hem were all decorated in a spotless white braid. She had a trail of stars floating behind her, and a dark fog circling her head like a crown. That too was studded with the small starry points of light. When Sara's mind registered what her arrival meant, she pushed herself up into a kneeling position.

"You know how much I hate when you bow." The woman said, rolling her eyes "Sit down." Sara obeyed instantly.

"Why are you here?"

"Only person powerful enough to save you." she shrugged casually as if she did that kind of thing every day.

"Oh yes, it's a full moon tonight, isn't it?"

"Correct. Now, tell me how you managed to get a mage killer in your arm?"

"A mage killing arrow?" Sara paled even though she was already a chalky white "That's what that was?"

"Yes. Sheathed in amethyst and amber."

"Really? How'd you get past the amethyst? I was under the impression that it blocked all magic."

"My dear, it would take three times the ammount of amethyst they used to even dent my powers. Though, you did put quite a drain on me. You were fighting it hard."

"Fighting what?" Sara yawned

"The effects of the gems. Your magic was trying to fight them off."

"Oh. So what did you do?"

"I dissolved the arrowhead, diluted your blood until all traces of the gems were gone, and then restored your magic."

"How'd you do that? I thought that magic was nearly impossible to give back once it's been lost."

"It takes a lot of power to do." the goddess explained "And you're lucky I have that kind of power."

"How do you do that?"

"Make your fingers glow." she nodded to Sara's hand "You'll see how." Sara nodded and sent her magic to her fingers. That was as much as she could do, as weak as she was. When the glow became visible she stifled a gasp. Instead of her normal colours, the glow was a dark blue and white.

"You gave me your magic." she whispered, touched "Thank you."

"Only a portion of it. It will fade back to your colours in a day or so."

"But why'd you do it? Usually nobody does that, even if they can."

"I knew you were something special from the moment I took you under my element. I'd always do it."

"Wait...what do you mean when you took me? Aren't I just automatically under your element since mine is night as well?"

"Not exactly," the woman sat down beside Sara and wrapped her arm around Sara's shoulders "You actually had three elements. Earth, Air and...war."

"What?" Sara whispered

"Your power was manifested with the three elements, but we fought over who got you. All of the original divines didn't know who was going to take you since when your ability was brought out Earth, air and war were the most prominent elements. Gaia, Khaos and Athena were all very busy, so I offered to take you." **(A/N: Gaia-Greek goddess of earth; Khaos-Greek goddess of air;Athena-Greek goddess of wisdom, warfare and reason)**

"But why? I didn't have your element."

"Night has always been the most powerful element, my dear. You were born to be a child of the night, even if nobody recognized that but me."

"I'm glad." Sara yawned again and her eyelids drooped.

"You need to sleep." The new goddess smiled gently and guided Sara's head onto her shoulder "I'd leave you be, but you need to stay by me as I'm your source of power for a little while."

"Fine with me." Sara closed her eyes and relaxed into her goddess's side "Would you mind keeping all of them," she waved a hand in the direction her warriors had dissapeared to "They need it."

"I'll watch them." she promised, hugging Sara with one arm. "I'm glad I saved you." she said quietly, thinking Sara was asleep

"Why me in particular?" the brunette's words were barely distinguishable

"There was just always something about you that I knew I needed to protect, and I'm just glad I finally got the chance." Sara smiled to herself. One of the things she liked about her second goddess was that she was so down to earth and talked like they were friends, not inequals.

"That's nice."

"Just go to sleep." the woman laughed "I'll tell you more about what happened in your early years tomorrow."

"Why?"

"Well, usually nobody finds out, but I repeat that there's something about you that just demands to know. I think that with all the power you'll be gaining, understanding will be a virtue."

"How much power will I be gaining?" The woman didn't answer right away, and in the silence Sara fell asleep. The woman sighed

"More than you'll ever know."

* * *

**A/N:** So, as the goddess said, the next chapter will outline Sara's introduction to magic and what went on in the realms with the divines and all that good stuff. Anyways, I was dropping subtle hints about who the goddess was through the chapter, but they were vague. She is **Nyx**, the ever powerful **Goddess of Night**. I'll tell you why she's so powerful (this story's version) in the next chapter. So, until then...please review and tell me what you thought of the chapter. You just have to click the little purpleish/white/grey button below (colour confusion last time I used this line, so I'll add the three usual candidates). Thanks!


	17. A glance into the past

Sara woke up early the next morning, still tired but more curious than anything. Both Nyx and Ammariah had been very cryptic about Sara's origins for the majority of the time she had been in the magical realms. Now that she had been promised an answer, she was excited. Nyx was sitting in the main room of the cave, staring into a small fire. Sara hesitated, hovering at the mouth of the room.

"You have questions." Nyx said surely

"Yes." Sara walked over and sat down across from the goddess "What happened to me, and why don't I remember any of it?"

"We spelled your mind so you would forget you ever met all of us, since if one day someone got to you and questioned you, they'd know about your power. We did try to protect you, Sara." Nyx sighed "But now I think you'll need to know all of it, on the off chance that it might help you. I'm lifting the mind block." Sara nodded cautiously and waited, closing her eyes for the impact the forgotten memories would make. She felt a slight pressure somewhere in her brain - one that she had never before noticed - lift, and suddenly everything was happening before her eyes.

_Ammariah's hand was firm on my arm, gripping it tightly enough so I had no possibility of running. The woman I had just found out was a goddess was leading me through a dark, misty forest. The mist was varying shades of grey and black, matching the dark forest around it. The only light was coming from a small crescent moon, bathing everything in its short range a pale silver-white colour. Ammariah placed an arm in front of me, halting me instantly. She stared into the mist for a short moment, looking for something that I couldn't see. She smiled as her eyes landed on something in the distance, and a moment later the small clearing was filled._

_The mist swirled around the new figures, wrapping itself around them. As they stepped forwards, I instantly knew who they were, as if it were hardwired into my brain._

_"You're divines, aren't you?" I whispered, looking at them straight on. A woman nodded, stepping forwards._

_"My name is Gaia. I am the goddess of earth." I knelt instantly, having heard about these deities in the mortal realm. If they were who I thought they were, I was standing before the primordial deities of Greek mythology. _

_"You're Gaia as in..." I could see by her face that she knew what I meant._

_"Yes, my daughter." She smiled warmly "We are all who you think." My bow deepened until my forehead was almost pressed on the ground. I heard a light laugh that sounded like a dozen small bells._

_"She's just met us and you already have her on her knees." The new voice said, clearly amused._

_"You may stand." Gaia told me kindly, looking over at the other woman with an unreadable expression on her face. The second woman laughed her bell-laugh again and turned to face me, taking a step forward, coming a few feet closer to me than Gaia had. She extended a hand - something I would later find out that was rare in a divine - and smiled radiantly at me._

_"My name is Nyx," when I didn't move my hand, she grasped it in her firm grip and looked into my eyes, confused "Are you afraid?" _

_"Uh..." I didn't want to tell her that I was, in fear of offending her, but I didn't know what to say that wouldn't sound like a bold faced lie "I'm just...interested." She laughed again._

_"I like you; you have a sense of humour." she smiled "Truthfully, are you afraid?" she asked this quietly, and I knew that we were the only two that could hear._

_"I am afraid." I looked at the ground, speaking just as quietly as she had "I'm confused, and I don't know where I am or what's happening to me..." I took a deep breath - I was going to talk her ear off._

_"You don't need to be." Nyx told me, resting a hand lightly on my arm "Nobody here will hurt you, and if anyone tries, you will be protected."_

_"Enough," A man said from the group of divines "You're hogging the mortal."_

_"She has a name." Nyx rolled her eyes. I instantly liked her if only for the fact that she was standing up for me - and had a sense of humour._

_"Yes, yes. We all know." Gaia raised a hand, gesturing for silence "We are here to discuss her assigned major divine, and nothing more."_

_-------_

_I didn't know why, but my hearing was much more acute since I had entered this strange realm, and I could hear everything the divines were saying._

_"She should be under my jurisdiction." A man said "She could do fabuolous things with the element of necessity."_

_"Ananke, you're dreaming_." Anake_, I recalled _Goddess of necessity. _The man who had just spoken gave Ananke a hard look "She would be so much better suited to time manipulation." I guessed that this was Kronos, the God of time. They all offered their own two cents about why I would be best suited to whatever element they represented, and as I listened I was able to identify all the divines from my basic knowledge of mythology._

_"Look at her," Nyx was saying when I started paying attention again "She's obviously very powerful, so she should be under my element." I briefly wondered why they were fighting over me. The look on Ammariah's face made it clear that it was uncommon._

_"Nyx, all those new to their powers seem powerful at first." A man disagreed._

_"It's not that. She has some sort of raw power that she hasn't tapped into yet. How else do you think she's in touch with all of us?" That left everyone else short._

_"It makes sense," A man I identified as Ourea, God of the mountains, said "I've never seen another under all of the elements before." _

_"Well, we can't all take her."Another man spoke up "We're going to have to find one divine to do it."_

_"Let's discuss it with her." Gaia gestured for Ammariah to join them. She walked over and knelt briefly at the divines' feet._

_"Is this about..." her glance flickered over to my face._

_"Yes, about her." Gaia said "We need to put her under the permanent care of one of us as well as you."_

_"Who have you chosen?"_

_"Nobody yet." She explained "We all wish to present our reasons to you and have you choose who would be best."_

_"That is a...great honour." Ammariah looked surprised "Are you positive I am the correct person for the job?"_

_"You are the one who knows her the best already." Nyx explained "You'll do right by her."_

_"Yes ma'am." Ammariah bowed again "I'll listen to your cases."_

_"Excellent. I'll start." Ananke, the Goddess of Necessity, said "You all know what necessity means, and if we don't have necessity the world will spiral into chaos. Imagine, if she's as powerful as Nyx thinks, the things we could do with her."_

_"She's not a warrior, Ananke." Nyx interrupted "She could be, but it's not in her as her main ability."_

_"Enough, both of you." Kronos - The God of Time - stepped in between them "She should be under my care, because - let's assume she is powerful - she could most likely reverse the time flow and possibly direct our fallen fighters and bring them back. We could defeat the Ruler."_

_"Never, Kronos." Eros - The God of Procreation (ability to create/bring into being) - spoke up "She would be far more useful under my service. Picture how many more of us we could create with her power. She could make a whole new army!"_

_"And they would all be slaughtered eventually." Gaia - The Goddess of Earth - explained "Now, if she were under the element of earth, she could keep the land prosperous and plentiful for crops and trees, and it could keep many future generations healthy."_

_"While you leave it to the rest of us to feed those crops." Hemera - The Goddess of Day - gave each of the others a hard stare "While you're sprouting trees all over the place, you will require the warmth and light of day to nurture them, and you will require light to appease and warm the future generations you plan to create. Her power would be beneficial to the element of Day, as you all rely heavily on it."_

_"You fight so much for the light of day, yet you forget the importance of hydration." Oceanus - The God of Water - shook his head "Without water, day has no water vapour in the air to warm. Without water, warriors have nothing to drink. Without myself, you are nothing."_

_"And of course, with water comes sea." Pontus and Thalassa - God and Goddess of the Sea - spoke together "Think of how she could help produce larger bodies of water, and hydrate the citizens. Why, with her power we could submerse the Grand Council Ministry in minutes."_

_"But without the containment of landforms, you would submerse the entire realm along with it." Ourea - God of the Mountains - said calmly "She could use her power to encase the building in rock within minutes if she were under the Element of Mountain."_

_"Though within it she would trap innocents, and injure many more." Tethys - Goddess of Nursing - spoke up softly "She could do well with the element of Nurture. Imagine her as a protector - powerful, kind, gentle...helping those around her and never tiring with her endless power."_

_"She should be under Sky," argued Uranus - God of the Sky "She could control rain, snow, wind...she would be able to frighten the Ruler into submission and bring glory to the kingdoms once again."_

_"No, she would be far better suited to air manipulation." Khaos and Aither - The Goddess of Air and the God of Upper Air - spoke as one "Think of the storms she could channel with her power. She could take the Ruler alone and banish him quickly, leaving the realms open and free as they once were."_

_"I agree, Air is her element." The voice was Zephyr - God of the West Wind._

_"Never." A new man spoke. Hades - God of the Underworld "She should use her power to ease the transition to the afterlife for those who leave the realms in glory."_

_"She should not be used as guidance into death." Nyx - The Goddess of Night - spoke up the loudest for Sara "She should be under Night. She is so powerful that she would be wasted anywhere else. She would be free to explore her powers at will, though choosing the major in one. She would be in touch with everything important in the world, and could do great things." _

_"Then where would our warriors be?" The new voice was Athena - The Goddess of Wisdom, Warfare and Reason "If she used her power to bring reason and battle skills to warriors, we would have a formidable fighting force capable of defending anything."_

_"Yet they would be unable to defend without the protection of Shadow." The last man, Erebus - God of Shadows and Darkness - spoke "Shadows protect warriors and allow them to hide themselves, offering them the beneficial element of surprise that has won many battles for us in the past."_

_"No, she should be under Day!"_

_"Night!"_

_"Air!"_

_"Water!" The divines continued to argue about my fate for hours, never seeming to tire. I sighed and slumped over, closing my eyes wearily - it had been a long day. The next thing I knew, I heard a soft voice somewhere above me._

_"How long were we talking?" The voice - still unrecognizable to my groggy ears - asked someone._

_"Clearly longer than we thought." I recognized Ammariah_

_"I feel bad about this." The soft voice sounded sorry "I forget how hard it is the first time you find out about powers."_

_"Where are we taking her? Back home?"_

_"I was at her house." Ammariah's tone suggested that she was frowning, though I couldn't find my eyes long enough to open them_

_"And..."_

_"It's not much of a home."_

_"Ah..." the soft voice was understanding "We'll take her to my home until she wakes up, and then we'll explain this all to her."_

_"Yes ma'am." Ammariah said. I heard someone scoff, and then I felt as if I was floating. I couldn't figure out if I was being carried by someone with insubstantial arms, or if I was actually suspended in the air. I was too tired to look and see. _

_-------_

_"Where am I?" I opened my eyes and fumbled around groggily until I could see. It was strange, but even though it was pitch black outside, I could see my surroundings perfectly. They were all bathed in darkness, but nothing was familiar. I was instantly afraid for my safety. Rising slowly to my feet, I moved towards a sliver of soft light that was coming from underneath a wooden door. I opened the door cautiously and relaxed when I saw Ammariah and the Goddess I instantly recognized as Nyx, the Goddess of Night. I knelt instinctively, but they both told me to rise at the same time. _

_"How are you feeling?" Ammariah asked softly, turning towards me "You seemed tired."_

_"I was." I yawned, feeling strangely at ease "I don't know why though. I 'm usually never tired."_

_"It's the magic." Ammariah explained "The first time...it drains you like nothing else can." _

_"Oh." I said shortly, still leaning against the door frame_

_"Have a seat." Nyx beckoned me over. I moved cautiously to sit beside her, and looked at Ammariah, my eyes full of questions. Though I had known both goddesses for a very short time, I felt more at ease with Ammariah simply because she had changed me herself. _

_"This is Nyx," she explained, seeing my expression "She's the goddess of night, and your major goddess."_

_"What does that mean?"_

_"There are classes of divines." Nyx said, her soprano voice startling me "The major divines are the ones you met tonight - the ones who were the original divines. The minor deities are the ones who we have granted divinity, like Ammariah." I nodded "You are assigned a minor goddess to oversee your general activities and life, and a major to represent and teach you about the element you are most in touch with."_

_"So is it normal to be in touch with all of them?" I asked. I was just curious, but Nyx and Ammariah's eyes both flashed to my face. Nyx's dark eyes flashed._

_"How did you know that?"_

_"I...I heard you." I cringed away from the look on her face "I didn't try to listen, I just heard."_

_"Well, yes it is strange to be in touch with all the elements, but you were given night because it is the most powerful of the elements, and we all saw how powerful you are going to be." _

_"Why is night so powerful?" _

_"It's hard to explain, but when it is night, the veil between the natural and the supernatural is the thinnest. There are very few who are able to handle the element of night because of the sheer power of it all. In all my years as being a major goddess, I've had four new magicals to oversee."_

_"Oh." I looked at the ground "So this is a big thing then?"_

_"Yes." Nyx said seriously, and then she saw my scared expression "Don't worry. You won't be going at this alone. That's why you have two goddesses. Ammariah and I are here to teach you and to help you, but first...there's something you need to understand." she looked over at Ammariah, and then back at me "You're powerful. More powerful than any of us know yet. I have an idea, but your true amount of power will always be locked within you until you choose to let it develop."_

_"Uh...what?"_

_"You have a strange type of power that we all sensed the first moment we meant you. You have the power to be anything that you want. You can be a shape-shifter, a mage, a healer, protector, warrior... Anything you want, you have the power to be, and that's extremely unique to you. There's one thing, though..." another glance in Ammariah's direction "To properly develop your magic, you should choose one area to concentrate on."_

_"What areas are there?" I asked her, the feeling of unease and disbelief strengthening._

_"Too many to list verbally." she said cryptically, playing an image through my mind. I jerked away, frightened._

_"What was that!?"_

_"It's something that everyone in these realms learns. It takes practice, but thought projections are easier to use than simple words, and more effective. You can show someone a picture, which is a thousand times faster than using words, and it's silent. To show you all the things you can become, I'll need to use thought projections."_

_"Okay," I took a deep breath "Go." I closed my eyes as she flashed images through my brain, each picture somehow describing the use of powers and the purpose of that form. Some of them appealed to me, but nothing I saw felt quite...right. Suddenly, there was a bright, almost flashing light in my brain. Whatever it was felt right. I knew it was the power I wanted. _

_"Stop there." I told Nyx. She froze and stared at me_

_"Are you sure?" _

_"Positive." I knew I was. She looked at me, an odd expression on her face, but placed a hand over my heart. As her magic flowed into me, she stared me in the eye and held my gaze_

_"Remember." she said solemnly "You chose this." The magic ran out, she removed her hand, turned, and was gone in an instant._

_-------_

_"Alright Sar," a girl my mind's eye recognized instantly smiled at me "You ready for this?"_

_"Biggest gathering of new magicals that's going to happen all year? Of course I'm ready." I smiled and pulled the hood of my cloak up around my face "Let's do it." _

_Together my friend - Lianna - and I walked into a large, bejewelled ballroom. There were young people everywhere, their magical lights shining in my vision. Their light represented their souls - richest at the peak of magical adolescence, the stage that each of the guests were in. Their souls also had a colour to it, showing their power, their ability and their element. Quite helpful to my kind. As we entered the ballroom, we let our hoods fall and whipped off our cloaks at the same time. Everyone turned and stared - something that I had gotten used to since it happened every time we walked into a room. All of our kind were abnormally beautiful, something that helped us complete the task that our nature set for us. As soon as we had shed our cloaks completely, revealing our skin tight dresses, a group of people moved towards us, all smiling and greeting us politely. Some looked more 'polite' than others, but it didn't matter to us. _

By this time, the memory was starting to confuse Sara. She knew what she was seeing wasn't her in her vampire form, but it was strangely familiar.

_As my friend and I moved through the group, greeting everyone, we were secretly evaluating their power, seeing who we should see to first, and who would be the biggest problem. From across the room I saw two more of our kind enter, and then three more from another side, and another two from the door we came in. Everyone turned to stare at the nearly flawless new arrivals, but only those of our kind saw the nearly imperceptible nod that came from our most senior attendee. We all nodded back in sync and then moved, shooting forward as one. _

_Each of us moved with blinding speed towards the others at the party. _

Sara saw coloured dust rising from the floors, but couldn't figure out what it meant. She sharpened the memory with her mind to get a better view of herself.

_I pulled a young blonde boy close to me with a sick smile on my face. His eyes were full of fear, but I didn't care. I thrived off of his fear. I held him close to me with one hand, preventing him from running. The other hand rested straight on his heart, and the colourful shimmer of his soul snaked up my arm and into my body, making me stronger. I took in a deep, happy breath and smiled, dropping his lifeless body and shooting forwards to find another victim..._

Sara jerked out of the memory and stared at Nyx in disbelief.

"I was a _soul_ stealer!?" she screamed, waking everyone up in the process. Catherine, in particular, jerked awake quickly, her protection senses overpowering even the need to sleep. She kept her eyes trained on Sara the entire time, watching her talk to the goddess.

"I told you that it was your choice." Nyx said solemnly "I wouldn't take away your free will."

"But...they steal souls! All they do is kill people!"

"And that is what you chose to do."

"But...I was a murderer."

"Yet, you came you came to me, displeased, and asked me to give you another ability. The important thing is that you learned."

"I was a monster." Sara whispered, more to herself than anybody "I'm...sorry."

"Sara, please. This is why I put the mind block on in the first place; to protect you."

"There's no use keeping a monster from her nature." Sara spat, her voice acidic "I'm sorry for causing you trouble. I won't be bothering you again. Ever." With that, she spun in a blur and was gone before anybody could blink.

"Should I..." Jordan gestured towards Sara.

"No, I will." Catherine said, much to everyone's surprise. Jordan looked at her, contemplating.

"Relax, Jordan." Catherine said seriously "I do know what's at risk here." glaring at everyone in turn, daring them to dispute her, she strode purposefully out of the cave, following the last chance that they had at survival.


	18. Chapter 18

"Sara, please wait." Catherine yelled after her friend, running through the forest. Sara was so distraught that she wasn't thinking in a magical sense, so she was running at human speed instead of warrior speed. Catherine was gaining on her, but Sara had a head start and knew the terrain better.

"Go away!" Sara yelled back, kicking her pace up a notch. Catherine sighed and kept chasing her, glad she had the powers of a guardian. Because guardians had to protect everyone, they had powers of endurance. Catherine couldn't run as fast as a warrior or a shape shifter in a fast form, but she could keep running for days without getting tired. Because she had taken on an element of mortal being, Sara couldn't go on that long. Eventually she started slowing, and then stopped completely, breathing heavily.

"You alright?" Catherine asked, placing a gentle hand on Sara's shoulder. Sara jerked away the moment Catherine touched her, almost as if she'd been shocked.

"Leave me alone, Cath." she growled, glowing with power as she regained control of herself.

"Sara," Catherine grabbed her arm "Don't run, please. I want to talk."

"There's nothing to talk about."

"I heard...about your...past."

"Heard that I was a cold blooded murdered was more like it." Sara muttered, mostly to herself. Catherine looked at the ground, unable to deny it. Becoming a soul stealer had been Sara's choice, and she had killed people without provocation, just for her own personal enjoyment.

"You changed, Sara. You're helping so many people."

"Like that brings back the lives I've taken."

"You were different then. If anybody knows about changes in character, it's me, and I can tell you that it doesn't make up for what you did, but if you use your new character right, it'll balance out."

"You didn't kill people, Cath. You can't seriously say that you understand."

"I'm trying to understand."

"You just can't, Catherine. You don't know what losing your soul is like. It's horrible and painful and the most excruciating thing you will ever feel. Without one, you can't live."

"Really?" Catherine looked apprehensive "But, with all the people you're going to help with this rebellion, it'll make up for it, right?"

"Do you know what it feels like to have your soul taken?" Sara snapped

"I can't say I do."

"Would you like to know?"

"Won't it kill me?"

"I can equalize the part that keeps you alive, but the sensation will be the same."

"Alright, do it." Sara could tell by Catherine's face that she didn't think it would hurt that much. She sighed and shifted her power before placing a hand over Catherine's heart.

"Remember, you asked for it." And then she let her magic flow into Catherine's body. She felt the blonde woman shudder as Sara's magic took hold of her very being. Sara concentrated, equalizing the parts she took out with blank instructions. They would tell her body to keep breathing and her heart to keep beating, but the pain would be the same. She smiled unconsciously as she felt herself growing stronger with the extra power. For a moment, her soul stealing nature took her completely, and she let go of the equalizer, letting it fade away. She just started feeling Catherine's heart slow when she realized what had happened, and slammed the equalizer back into place before Catherine could die completely. When her friend's soul was just on the edge of being gone completely, she blocked out the sensation of the last bit, and Catherine gasped before dropping to the ground. Sara stood there, holding onto Catherine's soul, feeling it with her mind. It felt pure and gentle, but there was a protective edge that she recognized as something she herself had a lot of. Smiling to herself, she watched her friend writhe on the ground, wanting to rid herself of the pain coming from within, but unable to even get a handle on it. When she was sure that Catherine had felt enough, she let her soul flood back to its rightful body, and let the equalizer go. When she felt the last bit of Catherine's soul leave her body, she looked at her friend with an undisguised longing. She felt a sort of sensory deprivation as she let the soul go - something soul stealers never did - and she instantly missed the feeling of purity that she desperately wanted back. Before her nature could take her over again, she switched her power back and looked down at Catherine who was now shakily rising to her feet. Silent tears streamed down her face as she stared at Sara with poorly hidden fear clouding her expression.

"I've done that to so many people I can't even count the number." Sara said in a flat voice "And you're telling me that's not unforgivable?" Catherine just stared.

"It's bad, I know." Sara felt her eyes go soft "Sorry."

"It's...fine." Catherine took a deep breath "I asked for it after all."

"And you still think I'm not a monster?"

"Everyone makes mistakes, Sara. You've done so much good. At work in the mortal realms, and now here...If you can't learn from your mistakes and fix what went wrong, then..."

"This isn't a normal offence, Catherine! I've put countless people through the type of pain you've just felt, but I didn't equalize it out when I took their souls. I just stole them, thrived off of them, and left their original host to die."

"Yet you've saved so many since then..."

"And I could still kill the same number if I wanted to."

"I don't think you could." Catherine looked at Sara, her face calculating "You've done so much good, developed such well rounded morals...I don't think your unconscious mind would let you hurt someone that way for your own gain."

"You're wrong." Sara said, holding up a hand when Catherine opened her mouth to argue "Do you know that I almost killed you? I let the equalized go and you almost died? And the entire time, I knew what was happening and didn't care one bit. I just wanted your soul so badly that I didn't care that you're my friend. Do you realize how much of a monster I am?"

"Yet I'm still alive."

"The only reason you're still alive is because I took control with another nature. If I had surrounded myself with my pure soul stealing nature, you would be dead right now, as would many."

"I don't understand."

"When you don't take a soul for a while, you feel...sensory deprivation of sorts. It's not unmanageable, but extremely uncomfortable. If I let my nature take me over completely, I'd tear through this entire forest looking for souls - the only thing that can ease that deprivation. I would kill you and Gil and everyone else in our group, and that still wouldn't be enough. I've gone without for so long..." she sighed with authentic longing "You wouldn't believe how powerful I would be...how strong I would be if I took what I needed."

"Sara, listen to me. You're not a monster. Sure you've made...mistakes that you can't take back, but if you end this war, you'll save eight realms worth of people who would otherwise die. That's balance enough."

"It'll never erase it completely." Sara argued weakly, starting to realize that Catherine was right.

"But it will save a lot of people, and continue saving people over many, many years. Even after you die."

"I won't die for a long, long time, Cath. I'm immortal."

"It'll keep saving people for a long, long time. You could say what you're going to do is immortal too, in its own way."

"It's just hard to accept..." Sara whispered, letting her head fall in time with her tears "To stop punishing myself for what I've done. It just seems that if I stop, I'll be condoning it, and that'll make it right."

"I think you've already punished yourself for what you did." Catherine said, cautiously putting her arms around Sara "And I think that now, it's time for you to start forgiving yourself. It will be impossible to move forward until you do."

"Okay." Sara pulled away, wiping her eyes "I guess you're right."

"I know it's hard." Catherine said gently "But you have all of us to help you."

"Thank you." Sara whispered with fervour "That mean more than you'll ever know." Catherine just nodded. Sara started walking back they way they had come, letting a line in the prophecy echo in her head.

_**The chosen one will be accompanied by a group of warriors more loyal than even the most devoted subject, and those warriors will be all the difference between the victory or failure of the rebellion.**_

_Yes,_ Sara thought to herself _The_ _most loyal warriors in the world, and they're mine._

She smiled as a new warmth took over her body, one that came with the power of allies, and she knew she was ready to take on anything.


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: Yes, I am aware that this chapter is short and not overly exciting, but I needed something to split up what happened in the last chapter, and what will happen in the next, like a lead-in. More action and excitement to come next chapter (I'm writing it now, so you won't have too too long to wait.)**

**I'd like to give everyone a huge thanks for making this my best story ever. It has twice the number of reviews per chapter than Coming Back (my first and my longest) and it's by far the funnest to write (and if we're being honest is the one with the least ammount of crap in it.) So, thanks so much to everyone who's sticking with the story (for those of you who are interested, there will definitley be a sequal, and a sequal to the sequal, but they won't be the same principle as this one, so it'll be tasteful.) I'm going to go ahead and bring this epic Author's Note to a close (it's an author's note, not an author's novel. I get it now! lol)**

**Thanks again!**

* * *

"Okay," Sara said, facing her team members along with the rest of the experienced warriors she had "Since we're able to stop moving for a little while, we're going to work on your swordplay skills." she gestured to the warriors behind her "Those of us who are experienced in combat will be teaching you swordplay and battle movements."

"Why do we need that when we have magic?" Nick asked "Wouldn't it just be easier to use that to fight?"

"Sometimes magic is rendered ineffective, as you saw in the battle against the warriors with amethyst armour. If we had no sword skills, we would have been killed. Usually in training, a child doesn't get to use their magic until they've learned at least the basics of swordplay, archery, hand to hand combat, and battle movements."

"What exactly are battle movements?" Grissom asked

"They're a set of steps and rules about how to move in battle. For example, your back should never be to your opponent, even for a second. They can use that to their advantage a thousand different ways. You'll understand more when you're actually doing it."

"Alright." he nodded. When it was apparent that nobody had any more questions, Sara stood so she had one side facing the experienced warriors, and one facing her team "Okay, so Violet's warriors are going to be with Warrick staging a mock battle," Warrick would have already learned the basic movements and swordplay in his warrior training "The rest of you will split up with one of us. Nick, you're with Jordan; Catherine with Rhea; Grissom with Violet; Greg with Ara. The rest of you," she gestured to Mato, Dwight, and Rain "Feel free to watch or join in the mock battle or...basically do whatever you want."

"What will you be doing?" Warrick asked, sizing up his opponents while he spoke.

"Watching." Sara made a face "I'm still a little weak from this," she gestured to the scar on her arm where the arrow had entered "And I shouldn't push it."

"Got that right." Jordan gave Sara a hard look before grabbing Nick by the arm "Let's go. First lesson: footing in battle..." with that, everyone split off into their pairs or groups and went to respective parts of the forest to practice.

-------

"How you feeling?" Mato asked, crouching down beside Sara. She was lounging on the ground, her arm over her eyes to shield it from the mid-day sun. Everyone had been learning a lot in their lessons, and were now learning either battle movements or basic swordplay - whatever they hadn't studied that morning.

"I'm actually bored as hell." Sara sighed "I wish Nyx didn't have to leave. She'd figure out something interesting for me to do."

"She has work to do." Mato smiled "Still feeling weak from the arrow?"

"Surprisingly not. I feel fine. Not top form, sure, but just...normal."

"Just rest for the rest of the day and we'll see how you do tomorrow."

"Fine." Sara sighed "But I don't like it."

"You don't like anything that involves sitting still." he teased "But, I have something you can do if you're _that_ bored."

"Anything." she sat up attentively, and then saw the grave expression on his face "Uh oh. What is it?"

"It's Violet's sister."

"Rain?"

"Yes. I think her magic's almost all gone. It's seriously impairing her now. I tried to get her up to practice some basic things with me, but she can't even move. I stayed and talked with her for a while, but she went unconscious, and she still hasn't woken up."

"We knew this was coming." Sara sighed "I'll take a look." pushing herself off the ground, she followed Mato into the cool cave they were staying in temporarily. Rain was laying on a soft bed that looked to be made of feathers and moss, covered by a thin woven fabric. She was paler than usual and looked drawn. She would have looked dead if not for the gentle rise and fall of her chest.

"She looks bad." Sara murmured, more to herself than anything "How long has she been like this?"

"Hours." As Mato spoke, Rain shuddered and her breath started racing. She shook violently, and a thing smoky column of bright light rose from her chest - her magic. "That's happening more frequently." Mato informed Sara.

"You shouldn't be able to see her magic rising. There's something seriously wrong with her." she sighed "I'll get Ara."

The senior healer left Greg's training immediately when Sara told her what was wrong with Rain. Mato, being the senior mage, stayed with Ara in case his power was needed. Violet, as soon as she heard that something was wrong with her sister, abandoned Grissom and assigned Loneto - her head warrior - to train him. With only Greg left over, Sara decided to take up his training herself.

"I thought you couldn't do this because of the arrow." Greg said, somewhat accusingly "I can just watch."

"You won't learn anything that way." Sara stretched her back as she spoke "Besides, I need to do something or I'll die of boredom." she held up a hand to stop Greg's inevitable protests "Now, we're going to talk about footwork."

"Fine." he sighed in submission

"Show me how you move." Sara ordered. Greg nodded and stood up straight. He moved straight forward, pushing off his back leg and jump-stepping ever movement. When both his feet were off the ground at the same time, Sara stuck out a leg and hooked it around his knees. Without one foot grounding him, his legs came out from under him and he crashed to the ground.

"No fair!" he protested from the dirt "I wasn't ready for that!"

"In a real battle, nobody's going to politely ask you if you're ready or not." Sara retorted "Keep one foot on the ground at all times, like this." she demonstrated a quick shuffle forwards, one if not both of her feet always on the ground.

"Like this?" he imitated her movements

"Yes, but you're letting your bow drop." All healers generally used bows and arrows instead of swords because they could easily loose a few arrows while treating a wounded fighter, and a protector armed with a sword was generally nearby.

"What should I do?"

"Try holding it closer to your body while you move, so it won't get in your way."

"This close?" he held the bow at an awkward angle into his body.

"No. It should feel almost natural. Very comfortable." Greg experimented with a few holds before finding one that looked and felt right.

"This feels good."

"But it's obstructing your legs. You'll get caught up in it and trip."

"How should I try it?" Sara smiled to herself, wondering how in the world Mato had put up with her incessant questions for years while she was learning.

"Try it like this..." she took his arm and brought it into his side, launching into a whole other wave of her lesson.

-------

"You've all learned a lot today." Sara said, addressing her team at the end of the day,"But practice is a lot different than battle. In a battle, if you stop for even a moment, the enemy will take you down. That being said, as a close to today's lesson, we're each going to have a mini battle."

"Against each other?" Catherine asked, looking smugly at the rest of the team

"No, against me." Sara winked "You'll rarely meet another fighter of your skill level on the battle field. If your opponent's skills are less than yours, you can finish them easily. If their skills are higher, you'll need to know how to work through that. This is the only chance for this lesson we're going to get, and the mock battle needs to be realistic." she nodded to Nick first "You, go." Nick didn't need any other invitation. He launched himself at Sara, but she had him on the ground in seconds. Surprisingly, as she dipped in for the 'kill', he jumped up, doing a smooth back flip and landing on his feet in front of her. She glared at him, much like an enemy would, and jumped. He watched her, calculating, and this time she hit him, knocking him to the ground. Before he could react, she had two short, sharp blades at his throat. She touched the metal gently to his skin and stood up.

"You hesitated when I was coming at you. Never do that. Just jump out of the way, if anything."

"Got it. Can we go again later?"

"We'll see." she smiled "Cath, you're up." Catherine stepped forward, looking instantly different that Nick had. Her battle ready stance was more graceful; more like Sara's herself. She stood straighter, her side facing Sara instead of looking at her head on. Sara shifted her weight to the balls of her feet and ran at Catherine. The blonde stepped out of the way swiftly, ending up mysteriously behind Sara. She took the moment to draw her sword and take a good grip on it. Sara pulled her sword out of her sheath as well and started circling Catherine, always keeping her eyes on the woman. Catherine kept her steps light, her weight distributed evenly so she was always balanced. As they were circling each other, Sara lunged at Catherine, her sword extended. Catherine blocked the lunge and did a rapid half-turn out of the blade's path. Sara was impressed, though not overall surprised. A protector's mind absorbed and built on every detail of something that could save someone's life. While Catherine half-turned, Sara jumped forward, knowing that Catherine couldn't off-balance her during a turn. They continued their almost-dance until Sara caught Catherine's blade in her own. She flung it up high, and even though Catherine kept her blade in her hand, the tip was high enough over her head that Sara could have sliced at Catherine's side. She touched her friend's side lightly with the flat edge of her blade and smiled.

"You did well. If you had tried a couple of hits in there, you probably would have won."

"Thanks." Catherine smiled back, slightly out of breath "That was fun."

"Warrick?" Sara beckoned him forward, and he stood expertly across from her, studying her with his eyes. She flew at him without warning, but he was already out of the way, his short sword held in front of him. Sara took a millisecond to look at her arm - he had somehow managed to get a hit on her while she was moving. She narrowed her eyes at him and stood still, letting him take the offensive. Realizing what she wished, he started moving forward very slowly, though he could have gone hundreds of times faster. The slow advance was a technique used by warriors to worry their opponents - the slow motion, looking very much like a cat stalking their prey, was very unsettling. Sara was used to the technique and waited, watching his every step and shift of weight. Soon, he was within sword distance, and drew his long blade smoothly. Sara countered with her own blade and then they were locked in combat.

Warrick, even though he was so new, was a formidable warrior and an opponent to be reckoned with. He twisted his blade around hers professionally, and she had to fight just to keep up with him. She had promised them that she wouldn't use any of her magic, even to change form, so fighting Warrick in her mage form, with reflexes slower than his, was quite a challenge. All through his attack, Warrick kept moving forward, always letting his blade miss her torso by inches. The closeness of the blade made Sara instinctively move away from it, and before she realized what had happened, he had her between himself and a tree. The next time his blade came around, it caught hers and flung it in the air where it flew to the ground a hundred feet from where they were. When he brought his slices closer to her, she doubled over on the ground and closed her eyes hard, going completely limp. Warrick turned around to Ara, his eyes wide.

"Did I hurt her?" Just as he finished his sentence, Sara stood up smoothly and grabbed the hilt of his sword, wrenching it from his hands and throwing it over towards hers.

"Even in practice, touch your blade to your opponent's throat. Feigning injury is the oldest trick in the book. Until you're sure they're dead, don't give them your back."

"Maybe that was part of my plan." he shot, bringing his hands up to the formal hand-to-hand combat position. Sara took hers up the same way, and they started moving quickly, their hands flying, each ducking, jumping and moving fluidly when it was needed. Nobody could follow how it happened, but eventually Sara was sitting on top of Warrick, holding two short, sharp double edged blades to each side of his throat like the expert she was. She touched the metal to his skin and dragged the blades across the back of his neck so lightly that they didn't leave a mark. Warrick cursed under his breath and stood up when she jumped off his back.

"You know that's the first time I've lost to someone other than the one who was teaching me?" he asked, clearly peeved.

"You were pretty close to having me." she told him "Next time, remember to use your sword when I'm down." she turned to Grissom and Greg "Alright you two, who's next?"

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**A/N: See, sort of dry wasn't it? Okay, I guess an author is their own worst critic, but I do want to know what you all think! More fighting and all that good stuff next chapter.**


	20. Chapter 20

After the mock battles were over, the entire group walked from the forest to the cave in good spirits. The only exceptions were Ara and Violet, both worried about Rain. Everyone was laughing and joking with each other, congratulating one another on the outcome of their fights, and even offering ideas for improvement. They had come a long way from the nervous, vulnerable group that had come into the realms a month before.

"What's on the agenda for tonight?" Warrick asked when they got back to the cave.

"Well, I was thinking about an early night, since we have to start moving tomorrow."

"Why does it have to be tomorrow?" Nick asked

"It would be best if we started moving towards the GCM sooner rather than later. That way we can rest there for a few days before the big battle. I don't want to go into it after having walked steadily for days."

"Good point." he agreed "I'm actually beat from today's lesson."

"Swordplay is hard to learn. It'll get easier as you use it more."

"We'll be using it _more_!?" Greg said dramatically, not as shocked as her pretended to be.

"Hopefully we won't have to, but if we encounter anyone or anything wearing amethyst, you're going to need to use it."

"Wouldn't the Ruler have amethyst around him?" Grissom asked

"Yes, the entire GCM is sheathed in Amethyst, but I have a friend of mine working on that."

"You talked to someone without consulting us!?" Jordan asked angrily

"Relax. None of you even realized I was gone, and we can trust him absolutely."

"What is he? And how can he 'take care' of it?"

"He's an alchemist, and, as you know Alchemy is the only type of magic not blocked by amethyst. He's changing all of the amethyst in the building and the town surrounding the building to purple sunstone, which looks identical to Amethyst, but actually increases magical ability."

"You have some pretty powerful friends." Greg whistled softly

"It's a good thing, too. We're going to need all the power we can get." she said, before moving inside the cave "We're going to move out early, so I'd get to sleep right now." without another word, she sank down on the ground, curled up and fell asleep.

-------

"Sara? Get up." Jordan poked her friend in the side, looking towards the dark mouth of the cave, the night's moon unable to reach the inside of the stone cavern.

"What?" Sara asked, yawning through her words.

"I thought I heard something."

"We're in a forest, Jord. It's probably birds or something."

"It was more substantial than birds. Can you please just listen?"

"Okay." Sara yawned again and sat up. Moving to the shadows of the cave mouth, she stayed motionless, listening into the deafeningly silent woods. Suddenly, she heard a sound that didn't belong. Her hearing was more acute than Jordan's and she identified the sound as a large group of people moving quickly through the vegetation.

"Listen carefully." she whispered to Jordan, never taking her eyes off the dark landscape "Wake everyone up, tell them to stay as quiet as they can, and to come up to the mouth of the cave. Keep Ara, Greg and Rain in the back cavern and tell Catherine to stick close to them. If any of us get hurt, I don't want us in the battle while we're being healed. Got it?"

"Got it." Jordan nodded "Who's out there?"

"Warriors. Lots of them. There's a magical signature that I can't recognize, but I know I know it from somewhere. We need to be ready if they're here to fight us."

"You think that's why they're coming?"

"Why else would so many of them be travelling at night? Just...get everyone ready. Even if I'm just being overcautious."

"I understand." she nodded again and disappeared into the back of the cave. Sara continued to stand motionless, staring out into the depths of the night.

"What's going on?" Rhea took her position behind Sara a moment later.

"Yeah, Jordan said it was important." Warrick asked. Sara could hear the rest of her warriors behind him, taking their normal positions in battle formation. Jordan re-appeared and stood beside Sara and Rhea.

"There is a large group of warriors out there with one magical. They're moving quickly, and they're moving our way. I think they might be coming for us, and if they are we're going to fight them."

"Can you tell who the magical is?" Rhea asked

"No. They're blocking me somehow, but I can tell they have magic, and it's a signature I know but can't recall."

"How far away are they?"

"A couple miles, but they'll be here soon." Rhea nodded and closed her eyes, concentrating on something. A second later, her eyes snapped open and her breath left her lungs in a hiss.

"What?" Sara asked, letting her gaze dart to Rhea's angry, disbelieving face for a fraction of a second.

"I know the magical signature."

"Who is it?"

"It's Dwight." she growled her cousin's name, clearly displeased.

"I always knew he would betray us." Jordan's voice was burning with fury.

"Don't dwell on that now." Sara said, massaging her temples with one hand "He might be bringing more recruits for our side."

"Unlikely." Jordan said, but stayed quiet after that.

"Listen. No matter what, we have to stay objective. This isn't a revenge battle, this is a normal one. Kill clean and effectively. You all learned how today, and I'm sorry you're going to have to use your skills this soon after the lesson, but...there's no other way to do this." Everyone nodded solemnly but said nothing. They all stood silently for an immeasurable moment before Sara spoke again. "They're almost on top of us. Look alive." Then suddenly the clearing in front of the cave was alive. Warriors burst through the trees, all wearing armour bearing the Ruler's crest. Dwight was in the middle of them, and stood back while they rushed at the rebels. He watched from the back of the clearing as his supposed 'friends' fought for their lives, all the while a smug smile on his face.

The moment the warriors came into the clearing, Sara's senses were as sharp as they had ever been. She immediately sliced the throats of two warriors with her small blades, stopping only to see them drop to the ground, definitely dead. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Warrick with his sword blade locked on another warrior's. Warrick thrust his blade forward, freeing it from the other man's, and sliced his throat before moving on to the next opponent.

The clearing, though dark, was alight with action. There were colourful flashes everywhere where the rebels' mages were using their magic to fight multiple guards at once. At least the warriors hadn't been wearing amethyst sheathed armour. Sara saw some warriors entering the cave, but a flash of pink and white magic saw them dead before they could set more than one foot inside.

Seeing Grissom overwhelmed by five warriors, Sara ran over to him and quickly killed one with a magical blast. Two others she finished off with her sword, leaving the remaining two for Grissom to take care of. He sliced through them quickly and efficiently with his magic and nodded only briefly to her before moving on.

The battle raged on for almost an hour, and the rebels were starting to tire. They were outnumbered more than they could have imagined, and it seemed that for every warrior they killed, five more showed up to replace them. It was clear that they had reserves waiting in the depths of the forest, but nobody could do anything about it because of the sheer number of opponents in the clearing. Everyone was starting to get tired and sloppy, all except Warrick and Catherine. Warrick - like all warriors, including the Ruler's - had the strength to go on in battle forever and never tire. Unfortunately, the rest of them were seriously impaired on that front. Most of them having just learned their skills, the use of them was taxing, and their top players were starting to weaken. Mato because of the length of the battle, Rhea because her anger was burning away all her energy, Ammariah who had left because as a deity she couldn't be seen associating with a rebellion, and Sara because, despite her protests that she was fine, was still weakened by the arrow. The only thing that kept her going was the still round moon in the sky - the true source of her power. As their counter attacks grew sloppier as time went on, the rebels started retreating towards the protection of the cave. Without Sara as the clear leader, they were all confused, but unsure of their next moves.

Suddenly, without anyone seeing how it had happened, the battle stopped dead. The warriors stopped fighting, and the rebels halted instantly when they heard a familiar screech.

Sara, their leader and the saviour of the realms, was stuck between the giant hands of the Guard's leader. His gloves were coated in a yellow-orange gem - amber - and he had a sick smile on his face.

"Come peacefully, or your leader will be finished." he said menacingly "Your choice." Everyone exchanged fearful glances - with Sara dead, the realms would be in chaos.

"We'll go." Rhea said when nobody spoke, stepping into the lead position "Just let her go."

"Wise choice." The guard pushed Sara over to another warrior, who grabbed her by the upper arm and pulled her violently forwards.

"Let's go." he growled. All Sara could do was nod glumly, not having the energy to do anything else. Jordan grimaced from the back of their now surrounded group; Sara looked terrible. She exchanged a private look with Rhea, plainly saying

_What are we going to do now? _

Rhea looked back with a pained, slightly frantic expression on her face, he eyes clearly conveying her message for her.

_I don't know._


	21. Chapter 21

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! You are all making me a very happy person =) Anyways, this chapter is sort of short, but the next couple will be better. The sequal's on it's way to having a first chapter, and...that's pretty much it. Happy New Year everyone!

* * *

In the bottom of the GCM there were ancient stone catacombs that had once been used for imprisoning wrongdoers. When the Ruler took over, he promised the citizens that he would stop the imprisonments and the torture. Needless to say, that was a lie.

"I HATE THIS PLACE!" Rhea screamed, shooting black magic at the wall for the thousandth time. She punched it ineffectively and rested her forehead on the stone, clearly frustrated.

"That's not going to do anything." Jordan said from a corner, her voice devoid of emotion "You've been trying for hours."

"At least we're inside." Sara said weakly "We can work from the inside out instead."

"Stop talking." Jordan and Rhea said at the same time, completely in tune with one another.

"You're weak enough as it is." Jordan continued "Just rest for a bit. We're not going anywhere any time soon."

"It's not talking that wears me out. It's just walking and magic and all that."

"Still..."

"Just drop it." she snapped "We need to talk tactics before they figure out what to do with us."

"Well, our previous plans involved magic and structural damage and fighting our way in..."

"Now we just have to fight our way out. It'll be easier in the long run anyways."

"That's all fine and good, but how do you propose we get out of this shitty little cell? The walls are hundreds of feet thick and coated in amethyst. We can't do anything if we can't get out."

"We need a plan...some way to break through the door."

"Then the guards will be on us in seconds if we do." Jordan disagreed "And with you weakened, we have no chance."

"I'm not that weak." Sara rolled her eyes

"You've had your magic sapped from you twice in the past few days. It's taken a lot out of you and you know it."

"We'll deal with that when the time comes. All we need to talk now is planning and tactics. Our battle plan has changed drastically, and we need to come up with new ideas otherwise we're sunk."

"Well we can't fight our way out." Rhea said, scowling at the walls

"That could be an option." Jordan argued "If we could somehow combine our powers, we could break through the wall."

"Yeah, okay." Rhea rolled her eyes "Let's just drain all our energy and let the hoards of guards the Ruler is sure to send kill us on our way out."

"It wouldn't be all our power. Just a little from each of us would do it."

"Even if we could get out of this cell, we'd still have to fight our way up from this stupid catacomb through throngs of guards probably all wearing amethyst sheathed armour. Warrick's good, but he can't fight them all for us."

"Is there any way we could sneak out and up?" Sara asked "Or tunnel through the walls or something?"

"Well there's an original idea." Jordan's voice dripped with sarcasm "Let's just use our mutant mole powers and tunnel through miles of bedrock and walls and whatever else."

"It was a suggestion." Sara snapped, then rested her head in her hands and sighed "I honestly hate this."

"We all do," Jordan sunk down on the floor again "but if we don't do something soon, we're all going to get weaker and weaker, and they're going to come in here and pick us off one by one."

"Well we need something to get us out of here."

"I have an idea." a new voice said from behind them. Everyone whirled around at the same time, each one in battle formation. The new arrival looked from side to side before dropping the hood of their dark cloak. Nyx shook her dark hair out of the hood and took a step forward towards Sara. Everyone dropped to their knees in sync, bowing their heads at the same time. Only Sara remained standing, and it was by sheer force of will.

"Stand." The Goddess waved a hand at them, though her gaze was locked with Sara's the entire time. "You've been injured." she accused, gesturing to Sara's tired and magic-sapped looking form.

"I was too weak to fight properly."

"You weren't being intelligent."

"What she was trying to be was everywhere at once." Jordan said softly "Trying to protect all of us."

"Very noble of you." Nyx nodded, pleased once again "Now, I must speak to you alone."

"Very well." Sara nodded. Nyx drew her hand in a semicircle in front of her body, coating the entire room in her magic.

"What was that for?"

"Ignore it."

"Fine. What do you have to talk to me about?"

"The time is coming." Nyx said mysteriously, pulling Sara farther away from the group, who were now confusingly frozen in time, as was everything apart from the Goddess and Sara.

"What time?"

"The final battle. The time of change."

"Why are you here, then?"

"To help you. As a goddess, you know I can't be seen directly influencing the outcome of a rebellion, but you are a Child of the Night, and I am your goddess." She placed a moonlight pale hand above Sara's heart "This will be painful for a moment, but it will end soon after if begins."

"What are you going to do to me?" Sara asked cautiously.

"I'm giving you a gift that only a powerful divine can give. You will thank me in the future." With that, she closed her eyes and let her dark magic flow into Sara's body. As soon as it made contact, Sara dropped to the ground with an ear splitting scream. She writhed in pain on the cold floor, connected to Nyx only be the flow of magic between them.

"Stop. Please." Sara sobbed, looking up into her goddess's face "It hurts so much. Please stop. Please."

Though she continued to beg, Nyx said nothing, but just stood with her magic flowing into Sara's body. Only her eyes - now open - were sympathetic. After five painful minutes, it was over. Nyx's magic swirled to a stop, caressing Sara on its way into the sky.

"It's over." Nyx said softly "I am truly sorry, my daughter. I know how much it hurts, but it is necessary for you to have all the power available to you."

"What's changed?" she asked, staggering to her feet.

"Try using your magic now." Sara nodded and let her hands glow. The first thing she noticed was that her magic was darker - a midnight blue and a deep but still bright green. Aiming carefully at the thick wall, she let a short stream flow from her hands, and gasped when she felt the difference. Her power now felt electric. It was like nothing she had ever experienced. Yes, Sara was powerful and unique, and yes, she was used to strange feelings of power, but this was different. Her magic sparkled, as if it too knew how different it was. With a huge, bright smile, Sara looked up at a tired Nyx.

"What did you do?"

"You have the power of a goddess temporarily. The power will know when your need for it is gone, and you will return to a level 13 mage."

"And this?" she gestured to her new, wiry muscles.

"That change is permanent. Your sword skills, hand to hand combat skills and flexibility are excellent already. I just gave you a different type of muscular development - one that will let you move freely in all fields of combat."

"Thank you." Sara said, her voice ringing with gratitude. "This means a lot."

"You're going to need every advantage I can give you. This is all I can do for you now. The rest is up to you and your warriors. I wish you luck and hope to see you alive in the end."

"I hope so too."

"Goodbye, my child. I hope to see you soon."

"Nyx, wait." Sara called impulsively "I have a question."

"Yes?"

"The battle...when will it start? How long will it last? Will I win? Can you see any of that?"

"I can see many things, though the outcome of this battle has been and always will be locked in time. Nobody can foresee the outcome. That is up to you."

"No pressure though, right?"

"My dear, I know that it is hard, but you have a wonderful team of warriors to help you, the power of a goddess, and one thing the Ruler does not...A pure soul. I believe with every fibre of my being that you will bring these realms what they deserve."

"Thank you, Nyx. I think I'm ready now." Sara took a deep breath. Nyx smiled and started fading into an insubstantial mist.

"I'm proud of you, my Child of the Night. I know you can do this right. Never forget that, like Ammariah and your warriors, I am always at your side." With that she faded completely, and time started back up.

"Wait! When is it going to start?" Sara's next question was cut off by the creaking of the opening wood door. She stood at the ready, and heard Nyx's voice echo eerily in her head.

_It starts now._


	22. Chapter 22

A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter! You are all amazing! Wow. This story is almost over, and I can't seem to figure out how. Anyways, there'll be a couple more chapters and then...we'll see after that. Sorry that this chapter is a little short.

* * *

The heavy cell door creaked open to reveal a person wearing a brown cloak, hood up, with the Ruler's crest embroidered on the left breast. The man looked to either side of the door and then dropped his hood.

"Hurry," he whispered urgently "There isn't much time before the guards come to kill all of you."

"What are _you_ doing here!?" Rhea hissed at the man she recognized as Mesco, her opponent in the Senoba d'Anai'a's sword fighting match - the same match she had thrown.

"I'm breaking you out of the cell. Now, do you want the help or not."

"How do we know that you're not leading us to our deaths?" Sara asked cautiously, glaring at him.

"Simply because I'm still alive." he pulled off a leather glove to reveal the glowing red and black magical swirl imprinted on his palm. It was a spell that would kill him painfully if he even thought of betraying Rhea or the rebellion. Rhea herself had put it there after she had revealed her level of power to him.

"He's telling the truth." Rhea nodded to everyone else "He's here to help us."

"Why, though? Didn't you pledge your allegiance to the Ruler like all the others?"

"I did, and at the time I truly believed in what he was doing." Mesco sighed and shook his head "Now, though, I think that he's doing the wrong thing for these realms, and soon enough he's going to kill us all. Your group is the last hope these realms have for normalcy."

"You're on our side, then?"

"Secretly, yes I am. I'll be standing with the Ruler in the end, but you will have an ally."

"That's good. How big are his forces?"

"In reality they are smaller than he would like you to think. You may be surprised, in the end, how many of his own will be fighting against him. There is a mutiny building, and we are all aware of that. The guards have been picking sides for a while, and this is what we need to get us going." he had walked them down the hall while he was talking, but now he stopped.

"Down that hall, to the right, you will see a storm grate." he said, pointing down a dark stone corridor "It connects to a system of tunnels that lead directly into the main hall, and they aren't coated in anything that could harm you. If you meet anyone down there, you'll be able to fight, but for now I must return to my duties."

"Thank you, Mesco." Sara bowed slightly "We won't forget this."

"I only ask that in the end you spare my life." he bowed back "Good luck." and with that, their saviour was gone.

"That was nice of him." Rhea said after a moment's pause. Everyone just nodded and walked slowly down the hall. The grate was right where Mesco had said it would be, and it came off easily.

"Oh, now this is just lovely." Catherine made a face as they stepped into knee deep sludge

"This," Sara gestured to the mud "is the least of your problems right now. We all need to figure out what we're going to do in this battle."

"Fight, maybe?" Warrick suggested with a smile

"We need a strategy. You should know that. If we all go in fighting without a strategy, we won't last long. We need to know where everyone's going to be, and what they're going to be doing."

"Dwight is mine." Rhea growled from the back

"If you're in the position." Mato said "You're one of our strongest and we need you where you'll be most useful."

"We'll stay in the middle of the battle." Loneto spoke for all of Violet's warriors "We can blend in a little more, and we'll be able to take whoever's giving you trouble."

"That's good." Sara nodded "Alright, Warrick stay with them."

"Catherine, Greg and I will be at the back." Ara said, speaking for the other healer and their guardian "We'll keep out of harm's way."

"Good. Violet, we need you on a high ground position so you can take them by surprise and relay their thoughts to the rest of us."

"I'll take up the interior turret." In the Great Hall of the GCM there was a turret that faced inside the building, allowing for a medieval looking balcony.

"Good." Mato nodded "Ammariah said that she'd try to help as much as she possibly can..."

"But as a divine she can't be seen directly influencing the outcome of a battle. Blah blah blah." It was a sour point with Jordan, and she was making herself very clear about what she thought of the divine's rules.

"Yeah, sucks but it's life."

"Who else do we need somewhere specific?"

"I'd like Felina and Nick on the rafters." One Mato said "They can get up there as birds and do whatever they see fit from up there."

"Done." Felina nodded

"Who else?"

"I want you," Sara pointed to Grissom "to stay by me, Jordan or Rhea at all times."

"Why?"

"Don't ask, just do it." she snapped "Everyone else, do what needs to be done and stay safe." Sara looked at a rotting set of wooden stairs in front of them.

"This it?" Jordan asked softly

"Yeah, this is it." Sara took a deep breath and turned to look at her warriors.

For a moment, she almost didn't go through with it.

For a moment she considered using her new powers to get them out of there and back to the forest where they could run and nobody could hurt them.

For a moment, she almost lost it.

But, even looking at them and picturing losing one of them in the battle, she knew that they had to go through with it. Yes, it would be dangerous and yes, some of them might die. There was even the distinct possibility that they would lose the battle, but she knew it was something that needed to be done by her.

"You all know that you aren't bound to this battle." she said finally "I can get you all out of here safely, and you won't be harmed. I won't hold a grudge. I promise."

"Well, I'm not leaving." Jordan said, moving one step closer to Sara.

"Neither am I." Rhea said, taking a place beside Jordan.

"We'll always be a team." The rest of the CSIs joined her, and eventually the entire group fell into their natural places, not even one of them hesitating. For that second - the one when she knew they were all with her - Sara couldn't breathe. A swelling sensation filled her chest - a sensation that she knew was pride, happiness and even love for all her warriors. They were the best group she had ever know, and probably would ever know. They all knew that they could die in the battle, and they all still chose to stand by her even though they weren't obligated to fight like she was.

"You are all the most loyal warriors I have ever known." she said, her voice thick with emotion "It's really a pleasure to have you all on my side." They all looked at her with expressions thick with devotion, loyalty and friendship that she almost wanted to stand there like that forever. Soon, though, she heard voices echoing down the tunnel they were in.

"I think they went this way." A deep voice said, followed by sloshing footsteps.

"Good luck to us, then." Sara said, taking a deep breath before starting up the stairs. Her footsteps echoed softly in the small stairwell, and soon they were all crowded behind a wooden door. Sara pressed her ear to it and listened for a moment before turning to them.

"There are guards in there, but I don't hear the Ruler. Get into position fast, and you know what needs to be done. Hope to see you all after the battle." with another deep breath she pushed open the door.

The guards in the great hall were sitting or standing in small groups, either eating, talking or polishing weapons. The moment they heard the creak of the door, they all looked over. It took them only a moment to realize that the group pouring through the doorframe wasn't on their side, and they all grabbed their weapons, instantly at the ready. Sara moved quickly to the walls of the room so nobody could come up behind her, and started fighting. Some of the warriors were wearing amethyst sheathed armour, but many of them weren't. The large room was soon echoing with sounds of swords clashing, people hitting the ground, and was lit up with colourful flashes of magic. The guards were dropping like flies, but more and more were pouring in. The numbers were about even to that of their previous battle - five guards for each rebel, but with their strategic positioning and sheer skill, the rebels were holding their own and even pushing the guards back towards the main doorway.

"We have this under control." Sara heard Rhea's voice beside her ear "Find the Ruler before he runs." Sara nodded once and broke off from the battle. She knew that the Ruler's chambers were directly behind the great hall, and quickly found the jewel gilded wooden door that lead to them. Pressing her ear to the door momentarily, she determined that there were four warriors in the room with the Ruler. She let her magical senses range through the door, and was pleased to find that the room wasn't coated in any gem that could lessen her powers in any way. She let her magic turn into a light mist and creep under the door. She willed it to be invisible and then stepped through the threshold herself. The Ruler and the four guards looked up at her as soon as she walked in, and the guards instantly brought their blades up to their bodies. Smiling to herself, Sara waved a hand at the guards, letting her invisible magic coat and suffocate them. They dropped in sync, and The Ruler narrowed his eyes at her. With another smile, she took a step towards him and invited him to battle with one finger. He liked theatrics, she figured, so she'd give him some.

The Ruler, winged and hoofed in his full demon form, stepped down from the platform he was sitting on and growled at her.

"You." he hissed "You shall never take my kingdom."

"You will not continue to hold power." she growled back, lighting up her hands with magic. She shot a fast moving stream at him, but he wrapped his large wings around himself, and she saw the purple shine of amethyst. Cursing silently, she tried for another spot on his head, but he shielded himself with his wings once again. Mentally planning on feigning a suicide attempt to get his guard down, Sara pulled her dagger out and positioned the blade on her jugular. Just as she was about to drag it across herself, she felt someone slam into her side and knock the blade out of her hand.

"Sara, don't." the new person said, standing up and facing the Ruler. Sara instantly jumped up off the ground and lit her hands up again. Though her eyes were fixed on the Ruler, her peripheral vision catalogued Grissom standing next to her.

"Well well, who do we have here?" The Ruler said, stepping closer to Grissom. Sara tried once again to hit the Ruler with her magic, but he always managed to deflect her shots with his wings.

"I see you are a sorcerer." he said to Grissom, smiling evilly "Would you care you care to join me? Your powers could be a great help."

"Uh...no, thank you." Grissom said, perplexed. He shot a glance towards Sara, who shrugged and continued trying to hit the Ruler.

"That, my dear, is getting quite bothersome." The Ruler turned to Sara and shot a stream of magic at her that wrapped around her and held her perfectly still. She had enough power to fight the forces that were trying to knock her out, but not enough to break the hold and still have strength to fight.

"Are you sure you wouldn't like to join me?" The Ruler crooned, stepping even closer to Grissom, though keeping his wings wrapped around his body.

"Yes, I am." When he heard Grissom's reply, the Ruler frowned momentarily before sending a slinking magical wave towards Grissom.

"Very well." he smiled again when his magic took hold on Grissom's unconscious mind, and stepped even closer.

"Come to me, my son." The ruler beckoned Grissom closer with one finger.

In his demon form, the Ruler was more powerful than he ever could be in any other form. He had his black and red wings coming out from his back, shining with amethyst, and his skin was a strange, grey chalky pallor that looked vaguely ghost-like though it was glowing healthily. Grissom was almost entranced, not having a high enough skill level to break the Ruler's hold on his consciousness. Grissom moved closer and closer to the half-demon autocrat, and knelt a few feet in front of him.

"You and I could work together, my boy." The Ruler almost crooned, looking on Gil like a father might look on his son "You are powerful, and together we could do great things."

"Great things." Grissom echoed

"Gil, don't..." Sara said quietly. The Ruler's gaze flashed to her face, and he growled.

"Silence!" He waved a fierce hand in her direction, and a stream of dark magic flew out of it. The magic the Ruler used was his own personal brand - a mix between pure evil magic that had no name, and the spirit of his own black heart. Sara's hand flew to her throat as she found herself unable to breathe. The Ruler waved his hand again and pushed her up against the rock wall.

"Now," his dark, demonic voice almost slithered around Grissom "Finish her."

"She will be finished." Grissom agreed in a monotonic voice. Sara looked up at him, pain in her eyes, but gasped at what she saw. The man standing beside the demon wasn't the one that she loved, and was clearly nothing like he had ever been.

Grissom was standing beside the Ruler, glowing healthily with his borrowed power and skill. His magic was darker - a variant of the Ruler's pure evil magic. He stared at Sara with cold, uncaring eyes. She stared back, her gaze clouded with emotion. She could feel herself weakening by the second, and she knew it was only a matter of time before the Ruler's magic took hers over completely and suffocated her from the inside out. She closed her eyes with a sigh and lit up her hands with a blaze of blue-green fire.

"What are you doing?" Grissom asked, his voice as cold as his stare

"If I am to die today, it will be by my own hand, not by yours." She said resolutely "I'm sorry it had to end like this Gil. Goodbye." With that, she lifted her glowing hand to her chest and placed it above her heart, letting her own magic suck itself dry.

"I have orders." Grissom stepped even closer, his voice sounding minutely different but still monotonic. He lit up his hands with his new, dark magic, and placed them on both her shoulders. She knew it was over.

"Grissom...Gil, please." she said, letting her eyes fill with tears "You know you don't want this. The real you wouldn't kill me like this. You aren't evil, and you aren't mean. You love me." She leaned towards him as much as her magical restraints would allow "And I love you."

"I know what I must do." he said in the same half strangled, half dead voice as before. He let the glow in his hands intensify, and soon the restraints were gone.

The Ruler smiled sickeningly, and Sara dropped.


	23. Chapter 23

A/N: Okay, so this one just wrote itself and I had to post it. Hope you like it.

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_"I know what I must do." he said in the same half strangled, half dead voice as before. He let the glow in his hands intensify, and soon the restraints were gone. _

_The Ruler smiled sickeningly, and Sara dropped._

Sara only remained motionless for a moment before standing up quickly and lighting up her hands. The Ruler's wings were lowered, so she took the chance and let one of her waves hit him square in the chest. When he realized what happened, he shot a weak wave her way, but she deflected it like the expert she was, and started walking towards him. Grissom slumped to the ground, drained from having been possessed, and just watched.

The Ruler was now also on the ground, breathing heavily. Sara used her magic to flip him over, and placed one foot on his back to keep him down.

"You've been wrecking this place for too long." she growled "These realms were not meant to be ruled by war and bloodshed. You've taken away the last of humanity in this place, and it stops here."

"You'll never kill me." he hissed "I will always have followers."

"I'm just glad I got to be the one to do this." she ignored his comment and knelt down, flipping him back over. She let her mind switch her abilities to those of a soul stealer, and smiled down at him.

"Because this is your first time, we're going to go nice. and. slow." she placed a hand on his chest theatrically, ignoring his weak attempts at dislodging her. As his soul seeped from his body, Sara closed her eyes and listening in delight to the sound of his screams until even they were silent. She took his soul, which she had taken great care to keep from touching any part of her soul, and released it into the room. It was in a black, red and grey orb, and it just floated in the air above his lifeless body for moments before Sara threw a fireball at it and it disintegrated. Giving The Ruler one last kick in the ribs, Sara nodded to herself and went to crouch by Grissom.

"You okay?" she asked softly, resting a hand on his cheek.

"I think so." he said, opening his eyes wearily "Sorry I almost killed you."

"You weren't in control. I understand that."

"And, you were right about everything. I would never intentionally hurt you, and I do love you. That will never change no matter who hypnotizes me."

"Thank you." She pressed her lips against his for a fraction of a second and then pulled him to his feet "Battle's over now. Let's see how everyone else fared."

Both of them walked into the great hall at the same time. It was clear that the battle was over. The remaining guards were locked inside a magical ring that would kill them if the crossed it, and the rebels were all crowded around the prisoners. Sara walked swiftly over to her warriors, scanning each of their faces, figuring out who was missing.

"We lost five." Rhea said sadly, apologizing with her eyes.

"Who?" Sara asked wearily, though she already had an idea.

"Three of Violet's warriors, Vera and Mato." she gestured to a row of bodies covered with a sheet. Sara's eyes filled with tears at the mention of the small girl and her own mentor and long time friend.

"They'll be missed." she said thickly, swiping at her eyes with one hand "The Ruler's gone, and it looks like a lot of the guards are too."

"Yeah. Mesco and the guards who helped us were all spared."

"Excellent."

"And everyone fought like warriors." Ammariah commented, appearing in a green mist "I was watching."

"They're the best." Sara agreed, looking proudly upon her warriors, and sadly upon the five she had lost. Ammariah, too, was looking down at the bodies.

"We will find their spirits and immortalize them." she promised Sara "They truly deserve it."

"Thank you." Sara nodded, her voice ringing with gratitude. Ammariah nodded back and pointed a hand at the bodies, each one rising in a cloud of mist on its way to the divine realms.

"So, now what?" Jordan asked softly, looking around the stone hall "The battle's over."

"Well, for tonight let's just deal with ourselves. Anyone who's hurt see Greg or Ara, and the rest of you get some sleep. We'll take the rest up tomorrow." A chorus of okays and nods followed, and everyone started moving. The GCM had countless numbers of sleeping chambers, so it was a pleasant change from the ground the group was used to sleeping on. Though she was tired and sore, Sara chose to stay in the Great hall, in the spot that her five warriors had been laid. She looked out through one of the immense windows, past the trees and the walls to the stars. Looking up at them, she took a small comfort in knowing that they were the same stars she had been looking at all along. With a small sigh, she pushed herself off the ground and walked over to a spiral staircase. When she reached the top, she stepped out onto a turret balcony from which she could see all eight kingdoms. She looked at the small, twinkling lights she could see in each of them, and then back up to the stars. After a long moment, she whispered to herself

"A new era has begun."


	24. Chapter 24

A/N: A lot of people thought that the last chapter was the end, and it wasn't, but the end is near. Only one chapter after this one, and then this story's officially finished. Don't worry though, there will be a sequal =) Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter! Sorry this is so short. It and the next chapter were originally one, but I decided to end on an even-ish number and stretched it to 25 chapters. Hope you like it.

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"So, the most pressing issue now is the Ruling of the kingdom." Ammariah said the next morning when they were all gathered in a room with a long wooden table, much like a conference room.

"If we leave the realms un-ruled for too long, chaos will ensue, and we don't want that." Sara explained "So we need a new Ruler and we need one fast."

"We should do it democratically." Nick suggested

"No good. It'd take forever." Jordan said "And we don't really have time to announce candidates and all that."

"Actually, there's no selection process involved." Ammariah said "It has always been that the one who kills the previous Ruler takes over his position."

"So that means..." Everyone looked at Sara in disbelief

"No. Absolutely not." She said, wide eyed. "I'm not ready to be a Ruler, and I don't even want the job."

"It's yours by right." Ammariah said, kneeling in front of Sara and bowing her head. Everyone followed suit "You are the new Ruler."

"Get up." Sara snapped "I'm not going to be even around to rule this kingdom. I'm not done with my mortal life just yet."

"Sara, it's unavoidable." Jordan told her friend

"Well, I won't work as a Ruler."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't have a drop of demon blood in me. Think of the reaction of all the demon or semi demons in these realms when they realize that someone who is not only completely non-demon, but was born a mortal. They'll rebel in every way possible, and that's not good for these realms."

"I see your point." Ammariah said, looking pensively at the wooden rafters "But I don't see anything we can do about it."

"There is one thing you can do." Nyx said, appearing in a swirl of dark magic. Everyone dropped to their knees, and she scowled good naturedly at them until they stood again.

"What's your solution?" Sara asked, once again the only one able to remain standing.

"You can give someone an unofficial position as Ruler. Though you would always be the one true Ruler, that person would have the power and the position, and deal with all the responsibilities of the job on a day to day basis."

"That sounds like the solution." Sara smiled at Nyx "Thank you. So much. For everything, I mean. The powers and the guidance and everything over the years. You've always been fantastic." Nyx smiled and leaned over to wrap Sara in a hug.

"My child, I always knew you were special. Right from day one."

"Thank you." Sara said again in a whisper as Nyx vanished.

"So, Jordan." she turned to her closest friend "You're the one person I think of when I think of power and independence, and though you are no more demon that I, I think that you could handle the position and any opposition you would receive. Would you do me the honour of holding my position on an official level?"

"I'm extremely honoured that you chose me, but I'm going to have to...politely decline the position. I agree that the Ruler has to have demon blood and considerable power, and even though I could probably handle it, at this point I'm more mortal than not, and I couldn't offer the realms the guidance they need after the centuries of turbulence they've experienced." She pulled Sara into a hug "But thank you, though. It means a lot that you thought of me."

"If you ever change your mind..."

"I know. Thanks." Jordan pulled away and Sara let her eyes fall on her second choice.

"Rhea," she walked over to their dark mage "You're the obvious choice for this, even though I haven't known you as long as I've known many of the others here. Not only do you have demon blood and strong black magic, but you're loyal and strong and haven't given up once since I've known you. I can honestly say that if I were to have to be in another fight of that magnitude, there's no one else I would want at my side. It would be a privilege to have you sitting on this throne in my place."

"Uh...wow." Rhea's eyes widened "Are you sure?"

"I'm positive. You've proven yourself over and over again, and there is absolutely no doubt in my mind about your integrity."

"Okay...wow..." she laughed nervously "Thank you for giving me a chance...thank you for everything you've been doing. I'd be honoured to take the position."

"Thank you, Rhea." Sara bowed slightly "You're going to be a great Ruler."

"You would have been a great one too." Rhea also bowed

"Rhea, trust me." Sara smiled gently "You are truly what these realms deserve."


	25. Chapter 25

A/N: Well, this is officially the end of this story. I'm actually kind of sad to see it go =( I hope you all like how I finished it off.

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Two days later, the entire realms' populace was gathered in the green below the immense stone balcony that jutted off the GCM's main tower. They were all looking up at the stone arch that lead to the balcony, watching the small procession of people step out to overlook them.

"Today marks something new," Sara said, her loud voice reaching far across the green "Something better. For the past two centuries, these realms have been Ruled by a man whose only concern was to keep a war going, and to keep people dying. That is not what these realms should represent. People should be happy that they are a part of this, not ashamed, and certainly not scared. We should be able to welcome newcomers with open arms, and now that is something we can do.

"As many of you probably know, I was the one who defeated our old Ruler, and thus his position is now mine. You also may know that I was born mortal, and still live primarily in the mortal realms. My life there is not finished, and I know that who I am now is not who I should be to Rule properly, and it is not what is best for you." A hoard of demons hissed from the back of the group

"So," Sara spoke over the hissing "I have chosen to appoint an official Ruler. Yes, I will still possess the power and position of a Ruler, but I have chosen to give equal power and the same title to this woman here." she reached back and took Rhea's hand, pulling her forwards.

"She is half demon, and understands almost all of you. She is powerful, fair and loyal - qualities which I believe all Rulers should have. She will be Ruling you for many years, and I hope that you can all learn to respect her, and by respect I mean _respect_, not fear. If you are afraid of her, you have no need, for she will be kind and fair. Now, in the spirit of change and a new era, I hereby give my title and power to you." Sara faced Rhea and placed a hand over her heart momentarily, letting the official Ruling power flow into her, then she turned once again to face the crowd "May you all see and accept your new Ruler." Rhea stepped forward, and though her expression was nervous, her eyes were glowing with power and loyalty. In a gesture as old as their world, Sara draped the colourful ceremonial robes over Rhea's shoulders and bowed low to the ground. Everyone in the green followed her, dropping in a wave. Even the demons and the Ruler's old followers bowed. Rhea smiled and projected her voice over the crowd.

"You do not need to bow for me, but it is I who should bow for you. For, without any of you, I would have no kingdom." And in a new gesture, Rhea dropped to one knee and bowed her head to the crowd, who cheered. Standing again, she stepped to one side and brought forward another person.

"This man has shown great courage and bravery," she gestured to him "He has done a number of things to aid us in taking over the kingdoms, and did it at a very high cost. We will always honour him, and today I would like to officially make him Leader of the Ruler's Guard." she led him forward another few steps "Mesco, do you swear to uphold the new values of the kingdom and protect its citizens even at the cost of your own life?"

"I do." he said, his voice ringing with purpose

"Then let you be recognized as the Guard's new leader." She bowed at the waist, and he returned the gesture, as did the entire crowd as they cheered.

"Now, we only have one more ceremony to perform." Ammariah announced, stepping forward "There were five warriors who helped fight for the freedom of the realms, but did so at the cost of their own lives. Today, we choose to honour them by granting them divinity." She stepped to the side and allowed Violet's three warriors - Teino, Cesau, and Wair, Vera and Mato all walked up. A woman with long blonde hair appeared in front of them, along with ten other divines.

"Teino, You fought bravely and boldly, showing your strength and courage as a warrior." His major goddess named Ananke - goddess of necessity - walked up to him. The blonde woman - Amaranth, the goddess of immortality - and his minor god Mureo also came forward. They each slashed their palms with a ceremonial blade, mixed the blood and drew two symbols on his bare chest - the pentagram to symbolize how he would draw strength from all five elements to prolong his life, and a symbol with all five elements - earth, air, water, fire and spirit - inside a ring of swords symbolizing how he would use boldness, wisdom and courage to mentor others throughout his long life. After the blood was fully absorbed into his body, his major deity draped a robe over his shoulders and said a few words, and then his ceremony was over.

The other two warriors, Vera and Mato all went through the same type of ceremony, only their major and minor deities replaced Teino's. Finally, when the cermonies were all over and the final speeches were made. All the citizens of the realms had seemed happy, and Rhea - as well as Sara - was pleased.

"Well," Sara said when everyone had cleared from the green "I think it's time that we left."

"You sure you have to leave so soon?" Rhea's eyes were frantic and frankly, she looked a bit scared of the prospect of what was to come.

"You're going to do a great job." she said once again "And yes, I have to go. I have another life to live in the mortal realms."

"I know, I know. I just think you should be the one doing this."

"I will when I'm ready. Don't forget, Rhea, I'm immortal. I can come back anytime I want."

"Okay, okay. I'll see you soon, then?"

"Course." Sara faced her team and encircled them all in a shimmering sheet of her magic. Jordan was going back alone, and planned to stay a few extra days to help Rhea smooth things out. Just before she started the transporting spell, Sara turned back to Rhea, Jordan and her whole group of magical warriors.

"Thank you again." she said solemnly "I will never forget any of you. You are the most exceptional group that anyone could ever wish for, and I'm glad that you were on my side." she bowed low to them, having said her emotional goodbyes before.

"You'll always be our leader." Violet whispered for the entire group. Sara nodded with a weak smile and started the spell. She closed her eyes as she and her entire team whipped between the realms, and only opened them when she felt solid ground beneath her feet and smelt the musty air of her apartment.

"Well..." Grissom said after a minute of silence "I guess we have work tomorrow." Everyone groaned.

"It'll actually be nice to get back to...normal." Catherine laughed lightly "I don't think I'll be quite able to look at our job as exciting anymore." Sara smiled and led them out to the door. Just before they left, she called their names and they turned back.

"Listen, guys...I don't think I really thanked you enough for what you did. I mean...you gave up everything you knew and didn't turn your backs on me, even when I probably deserved it. I don't really know how to put this into words properly..." she searched her mind for something that would sum up her feelings, but couldn't find anything. "Just...thank you. So, so much. I will owe you all forever. You did such a great job and you were all so loyal and willing to learn...it just amazed me."

"We'll always be a team." Nick shrugged.

"Yeah," Catherine agreed "No matter what."

And looking at her team in front of her - all half mortal, half not - Sara couldn't help but see the plain truth in those words. They _would_ always be a team, through everything, and no matter what the situation. Not many people could say that about a team of people, she realized. True, if you put people of the same mind together and ask them to work, they will, but it takes a special kind of people to form the kind of bonds her team had - the kind that offer an unconditional kindness and devotion, even in unusual circumstances. She studied all their faces carefully as they walked out.

Greg, who now seemed wiser than his years;

Catherine, who protected all of them before thinking of herself;

Warrick, who she knew was stronger than he had ever been, both in mind and body;

Nick, who's versatility had won battles for them and who's amiability had made the transition that much easier for everyone;

And finally Grissom, who had captured Sara's heart and saved her life.

Yes, they were truly the kind of friends that people wished for - the kind that she would willingly die to save, and the kind that came through for you no matter where you were, even if all their lives were sitting right on the edge.

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A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who stuck with this story through the whole thing, and to everone who came on board along the way. You were all the inspiration for this. The Sequal is up now (it's called OTE: Reclaiming the Night) and it's sort of continuing where this one left off. I hope you all go and read it, but if you don't, thanks, at least, for reading this one. Please review one last time. Thanks!


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